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.