SCHIZOPHRENIFORM PSYCHOSIS
It is superficially a psychosis similar to schizophrenia, Langfeldt sought to
distinguish between schizophrenia and schizophreniform psychosis on the following:
Symptomatology, outcome, response to Electroconvulsive Therapy and insulin coma
therapy.
In U.S.A, Elgin, Philps and Kantor tried to discriminate between schizophrenia andOPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF SCHIZOPHRENIA:
1- Diagnostic and statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, revised (DSMIV)(
1994).
This criterion gives narrow definitions of schizophrenia and relies mostly on describable
signs and symptoms. It needs at least six months duration of continuous signs of
disturbance to diagnose schizophrenia.
Schizophreniform disorder meets the DSMIV-cross-sectional criteria for schizophrenia
except that it lasts less than months and more than month. Emotional turmoil and
confusion are more likely occur in schizophreniform disorder than schizophrenia.
2- International Classification of Diseases (I.C.D. 10)(WHO, 1989)
According to this system, diagnosis of acute schizophrenia (equal to schizophreniform
disorders in DSMIV-R) needs a duration of disturbance not less than one month during
which characteristic symptoms mostly first rank symptoms must be present
schizophreniform psychosis mainly on the basis of the premorbid personality and
psychosexual adjustments. Both Langfeldt and American workers assumed that
schizophrenia was endogenous and hereditary and that schizophreniform psychosis was
psychogenic but neither succeeded to put a clear demarcation between the two.
Langfeldt proposed that schizopgreniform had a good prognosis and schizophrenia had
a poor prognosis.