Remitting schizophrenia as a variant of affective disorder.

Remitting schizophrenia is an important phenomenon in the United States largely because of the broad concept of schizophrenia used here. Clinical and family investigations of this condition suggest a close link between remitting schizophrenia and the affective disorders. However, the elevated morbidity risk of schizophrenia in first-degree relatives of remitting schizophrenics precludes the conclusion that remitting schizophrenia is simply a variant of affective disorders. The following testable hypothesis is consistent with the available data: remitting schizophrenia is a heterogeneous mixture of mania, unipolar depression, and typical schizophrenia. Mania and unipolar depression account for the majority of such disorders although schizophrenia may account for a sizable minority. Other disorders may be included in this mixture; but, their contribution to the remitting schizophrenias is probably small.