Negative symptoms in the course of first-episode affective psychosis

Abstract

To determine whether the prognostic implications of negative symptoms apply to functional psychotic disorders other than schizophrenia, we investigated the significance of negative symptoms in the 18-month course of individuals experiencing a first episode of affective psychosis. Although negative symptoms were found to occur during the acute phase of a major depression or a bipolar disorder with psychotic features, they did not endure and had limited prognostic value. Further, the findings suggest that enduring negative symptoms may be specific to schizophrenia.