Recent life events and acute schizophrenic psychosis: a controlled study.

In this case control study, first admission schizophrenic patients were found to report more recent life events overall and more events categorized as undesirable, familial, relocation, and legal than controls. Interpretation of the observations should be ventured cautiously given the small difference between schizophrenics and controls, the small number of subjects, the retrospective strategy, and the failure of events "independent of one's control" or events characterized as "threatening" to confirm the positive relationship of recent life events to the occurrence of illness. The present work is part of considerable recent research documenting a relationship between the amount and/or significance of recent life events and the occurrence of psychological symptomatology and major psychiatric syndromes. The overall difference between schizophrenics and normals in reporting events appears to be smaller in magnitude than the difference found between depressives and normals. Further, the significance of events for schizophrenics and for depressives is different. The number, type, severity, and pattern of recent life events reported by schizophrenics suggest a precipitating role of events rather than a formative one. These results are consistent with one other controlled study on schizophrenia and recent life experience.