Prospective study of course of illness in schizophrenia: Part I. Outcome at 1 year.

In a prospective study involving 161 patients discharged from inpatient psychiatric treatment, outcome data were obtained for 93 percent of the patients 1 year after clinic discharge. Sixty-seven percent of the patients were directly interviewed for the followup examination. Outcome data for symptomatology, relapses, employment, and social contacts did not differ significantly for patients with schizophrenic psychoses as compared to those with affective psychoses, neuroses, and other psychiatric diagnoses (predominantly alcohol dependency). A discrepancy between self-ratings and observer-ratings was particularly striking in the group of neuroses at discharge from inpatient treatment. These patients also had comparatively more prominent depressive symptomatology at followup. These findings raise questions about the influence of possibly different levels of intensity in outpatient followup treatment, and about outcome predictors independent of diagnosis. These questions are pursued in Parts II and III.