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Premorbid adjustment in first episode schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders: a comparison of social and academic domains.

Norman RM, Malla AK, Manchanda R, Townsend L

Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London Health Sciences Centre, Canada. morman@uwo.ca

OBJECTIVE: Recent evidence suggests that premorbid adjustment in schizophrenia and related disorders can be separated into social and academic domains. In this paper, we examine the correlates of and prognostic significance of social and academic premorbid adjustment in a sample of 113 patients. METHOD: Premorbid adjustment, symptoms and cognitive functioning were assessed at presentation for treatment and symptoms were re-assessed after a year of treatment. RESULTS: Females and those with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder were found to have better premorbid adjustment in the academic domain, but not in the social domain. Neurocognitive functioning was more consistently related to academic than social adjustment. Better social and academic premorbid adjustment was correlated with lower negative symptoms after 1 year of treatment, but neither was a significant predictor of positive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Social and academic premorbid adjustments show different relations to gender, specific diagnosis and neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia and related disorders.

Published 14 June 2005 in Acta Psychiatr Scand, 112(1): 30-9.
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