J Clin Psychiatry. 1998;59 Suppl 12:28-34.
Attempts to clarify the domains of schizophrenia gained importance when the atypical antipsychotics joined the armamentarium of schizophrenia treatments because of evidence that these agents are superior to conventional antipsychotics for the treatment of negative symptoms. Negative symptoms can be divided into 3 components: (1) deficit or primary enduring negative symptoms that may or may not respond to treatment, (2) primary nonenduring negative symptoms, and (3) secondary negative symptoms that are associated with positive symptoms, extrapyramidal symptoms, depression, and environmental deprivation. The atypical antipsychotics have generally been found to be more effective than conventional antipsychotics against the totality of negative symptoms, but their effects on specific components are still under study. Sophisticated statistical tools such as path analysis have been used in investigations of the direct and indirect effects of atypical antipsychotics on negative symptoms, but these tools have limitations. Future study is needed to identify specific components of negative symptoms that may respond preferentially to one or another of the atypical antipsychotics.
当非典型抗精神病药物加入精神分裂症治疗药物行列时，明确精神分裂症的症状领域变得愈发重要，因为有证据表明这些药物在治疗阴性症状方面优于传统抗精神病药物。阴性症状可分为三个组成部分：（1）缺陷性或原发性持续性阴性症状，可能对治疗有反应，也可能没有反应；（2）原发性非持续性阴性症状；（3）继发性阴性症状，与阳性症状、锥体外系症状、抑郁和环境剥夺有关。一般发现，非典型抗精神病药物在治疗总体阴性症状方面比传统抗精神病药物更有效，但它们对特定组成部分的影响仍在研究中。诸如路径分析等复杂的统计工具已用于研究非典型抗精神病药物对阴性症状的直接和间接影响，但这些工具存在局限性。未来的研究需要确定阴性症状的特定组成部分，这些部分可能对一种或另一种非典型抗精神病药物有优先反应。
