Schizo-affective psychoses in childhood: a follow-up study

Abstract

A follow-up study of 16 schizo-affectives (part of a group of 57 children originally diagnosed as schizophrenic) is reported. All 57 patients were under 14 years. They were reinvestigated after an average follow-up period of 16 years (range 6 to 40 years). Of the 57 psychoses 28% had a typical schizo-affective character. In contrast to purely schizophrenic psychoses, we found an overrepresentation in the schizo-affective psychoses of affective psychoses and suicides in the ancestry. Further, in the schizo-affective psychoses there were more premorbidly well adjusted, harmonious personalities. In contrast, maladjusted, dishormonious, introverted characters predominated in purely schizophrenic psychoses. The schizo-affective psychoses had mainly an acute-recurrent character and followed a favorable course. The schizo-affective and affective phases were of significantly shorter duration than the schizophrenic episodes.