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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2005) 187: s49-s54
© 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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

PETER HANDEST, MD

Cognitive Research Unit, University Department of Psychiatry, Hvidovre Hospital

JOSEF PARNAS, MD

Cognitive Research Unit, University Department of Psychiatry, Hvidovre Hospital and Danish National Research Foundation, Centre for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Correspondence: Dr Peter Handest, University Department of Psychiatry, Hvidovre Hospital, Brøndby stervej 160, 2605 Brønby, Denmark. E-mail: handest{at}dadlnet.dk

Declaration of interest None.

* Paper presented at the Third International Early Psychosis Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2002.

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 (otherdiagnoses, 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.