Psychopathological dimensions in schizophrenia.

To test underlying latent syndromes within schizophrenic syndromes assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), a sample of 100 DSM-III-R schizophrenia patients was obtained through a semistructured interview for schizophrenia. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the underlying symptomatological dimensions. The positive and negative construct was not confirmed by this study. The three- and four-dimension models obtained higher goodness of fit than the one- or two-dimension models. Models composed of three or four dimensions shared positive and negative syndromes, in addition to "disorder of relating" and/or "disorganization" dimensions. The disorder of relating dimension of PANSS was composed of emotional withdrawal and passive/apathetic social withdrawal. The disorganization dimension comprised two symptoms of PANSS (conceptual disorganization and poor attention) and an item not included in the PANSS: inappropriate affect. It is suggested that a schedule for the assessment of this item be added to the PANSS.