Psychopathology of Schizophrenia in South Asia: Has there been a change over the last few decades?

INTRODUCTION

There have been a number of studies reporting on psychopathology of schizophrenia from South Asia, with the last study being reported about twenty five years back. The present study reports the clinical profile and frequency of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and discusses the changing trends in psychopathology.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: Three hundred and thirty two patients with schizophrenia, aged 16-55, diagnosed as per DSM-IV-TR, were assessed for psychopathology on operational criteria OPCRIT checklist. The findings were compared with the previous studies on psychopathology of schizophrenia reported from South Asia.

RESULTS

Delusions (82.8%) followed by hallucinations (69.9%) were the most frequent psychopathology. First rank symptoms (FRS) were present in about three fourth of the subjects. Third person auditory hallucinations (68.6%) were the most common and thought echo (2.9%) was the least common FRS. One FRS was present in 31.7%, two in 24.7%, three in 17.7% and four in 6.8% of the subjects having FRS. A comparison with studies A comparison revealed that the prevalence of FRS were inbetween those reported in studies from Pakistan and India but higher than in the samples evaluated in Sri Lanka.

CONCLUSION

Delusions and hallucinations with persecutory themes and FRS continue to be a common symptom in patients with schizophrenia.