Schneider's first rank symptoms of schizophrenia in Kenyan patients

Abstract

Eighty 'psychotic' patients admitted to Mathare Psychiatric Hospital, Nairobi, were screened using the New Haven Schizophrenic Index (NHSI). Fifty-one (64%) of these were positive and the rest negative. Of those positive 73% had First Rank Symptoms (FRS) of schizophrenia as opposed to only 24% in the group negative for schizophrenia. This difference is highly significant (P less than 0.001). The commonest individual FRS were thought echo, thought insertion, delusional mood and auditory hallucinations in third person. The frequency distribution of FRS had no relation to sex or age. These results are compared and contrasted with the findings of similar studies in various cultures.