Clinical characteristics of first-admitted patients with ICD-10 schizotypal disorder

BACKGROUND: The clinical picture of schizotypal disorders is rarely comprehensively described. AIMS: To describe psychopathological profiles of patients with ICD-10 schizotypal disorder. METHOD: A total of 151 first-admitted patients (with affective and somatic disorders excluded) were given a comprehensive psychopathological evaluation, including the Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms. Patients with schizotypal disorder (n=50) were compared with those with psychosis (n=51) and those outside the schizophrenia spectrum (other diagnoses, n=50) on a number of psychopathological scales. RESULTS: Patients with schizotypal disorder scored intermediately between patients with psychosis and other diagnoses on scales related to positive and negative symptoms, disorders of emotional contact and formal thought disorder, but had the same scores as patients with schizophrenia for subtle aberrations of subjective experience. Schizotypal criteria were not normally distributed with an excess of patients between 2 and 6 criteria. Family history of schizophrenia was equally elevated among those with schizotypal disorder and those with psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: ICD-10 schizotypy represents a milder, less psychotic, variant of schizophrenia but there is no clear-cut division between the two disorders.