Reliability and validity of emotional blunting as a criterion for diagnosis of schizophrenia
- 1 September 1982
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing in American Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 139 (9), 1131-1135
- https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.139.9.1131
Abstract
The usefulness of emotional blunting as a criterion for the diagnosis of schizophrenia was tested on 130 patients with Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and affective disorder, using both a scale and a global item from the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Reliability for both measures was very high. The use of emotional blunting as a valid criterion for the RDC diagnosis of schizophrenia was not supported although it may be useful in differentiating subtypes of schizophrenia and as an exclusion criterion for affective disorders. There was no advantage in using a scale rather than a single rating measure for assigning diagnoses.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND THE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM1980
- PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN RECOVERED AND DETERIORATED SCHIZOPHRENICSAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1966
- PROGNOSIS IN "PROCESS" AND "NON-PROCESS" SCHIZOPHRENIAAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1963