Manic-Depressive Illness and Acute Schizophrenia: A Clinical, Family History, and Treatment-Response Study

The authors examined 26 consecutive patients who had a diagnosis of acute schizophrenia upon admission to an inpatient psychiatric unit of a municipal hospital. Only one patient satisfied research criteria for schizophrenia, whereas half of the patients received a research diagnosis of mania. The group with a research diagnosis of mania was compared with a group of schizophrenics and manic patients for whom admission and research diagnoses concurred; no differences from the research manics but marked differences from the research schizophrenics were found in this group in regard to clinical, genetic, and treatment-response variables. The authors conclude that many patients receiving the diagnosis of acute schizophrenia actually suffer from an affective illness and rarely satisfy rigorous criteria for schizophrenia.