Consistency of symptomatic dimensions of schizophrenia in a 20-year follow-up study

Background/Objectives: Based on the analysis of the psychopathological assessment in subsequent follow-up studies, two research goals were formulated: (1) Identification of symptom dimensions in schizophrenia over a twelve year follow-up period. (2) Evaluation of the consistency of selected dimensions over the period of twelve years. Methods: A group of 80 people with first episode of schizophrenia was selected based on the following criteria: (a) admitted to a psychiatric hospital for the first time, (b) diagnosis of schizophrenia according to the then-used DSM-III classification (re-diagnosed in the 12-year fo…