Premium
Psychopathological characteristics in alcohol hallucinosis and paranoid schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Soyka M.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1990.tb06491.x
Subject(s) - psychopathology , paranoid schizophrenia , psychiatry , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychology , psychosis , family history , clinical psychology , medicine
In a retrospective study psychopathology, psychiatric family history and demographic data were studied in 53 patients with alcohol hallucinosis and an age‐ and sex‐matched control group of 53 patients with paranoid schizophrenia who had been treated at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Munich between 1979 and 1986. The psychopathology was assessed by the AMDP system. The paranoid‐hallucinatory symptoms in both conditions were very similar; verbal hallucinations and delusions of reference were most common in both groups. Disorders of ego were found in 87% of the schizophrenics, but only 30% of the alcoholic patients ( P < 0.001). Schizophrenics developed psychosis at a younger age than alcoholics and seemed to have poorer outcome. Patients with alcohol hallucinosis had more relatives with an alcohol history ( P < 0.001), and schizophrenics more relatives with schizophrenic psychosis ( P < 0.001).