Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1463-1466
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
A discriminant validity study of negative symptoms with a special focus on depression and antipsychotic medication
RR Lewine
Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322.
If the construct validity of the negative symptom syndrome is to be
established, the conceptual and operational overlap between negative
symptoms and other syndromes such as depression and the effects of
medication must be explained. The author assessed 26 patients with
schizophrenia and 21 patients without schizophrenia, most of whom had
depression, at the end of an average 2-week drug washout period and after
approximately 2 months of psychotropic medication administration. Negative
symptoms were remarkably consistent in patients with schizophrenia despite
pharmacological intervention. In contrast, the patients without
schizophrenia manifested significant decreases in negative symptoms.
