The Dysphoric Syndrome in Schizophrenia and its Implications for Relapse

Abstract

The presence of non-psychotic neurotic and dysphoric symptoms in schizophrenia has been recognised from the days of Bleuler (1908) and Kraepelin (1896) and is inherent in the hierarchical schema explicated by Foulds (1976) and commonly employed by psychiatrists in the diagnosis of psychotic disorder. Of such symptoms, those which may be characterised as depressive in nature have been the focus of much recent interest in view of claims that they may be iatrogenic. That such symptoms occur widely in schizophrenia is beyond dispute, but their relationship to the process of the illness and its treatment remains a subject of contention.