The relationship between anhedonia and positive, negative, and general symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia.

An inability to experience pleasure or a reduction in the ability to do so is a prominent feature of schizophrenia that is often included among the negative symptoms of the disorder. As a whole, dysfunction in the affective experience of pleasure in patients with schizophrenia is poorly understood and is mediated by a number of cognitive and emotional processes. Whilst there is evidence that patients with schizophrenia have an impaired ability to derive and experience pleasure from non-current tasks, there is some evidence that they report current pleasurable experiences similar to non-clinical control participants.

Global assessment of psychosocial functioning and predictors of outcome in schizophrenia.

Objective: This study identified predictors of psychosocial outcome in schizophrenia.

Method: A mixed group of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were assessed as part of a routine clinical evaluation. A linear regression analysis was conducted in order to examine the effect of duration of untreated illness, number of previous hospitalisations, history of psychotic episodes and age at illness onset on patients' functioning, as assessed with the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale.

Insight, global functioning and psychopathology amongst in-patient clients with schizophrenia.

To explore whether cognitive impairment and global functioning can predict the degree of insight into illness as well as whether insight is mediated by specific symptom dimensions of psychopathology in schizophrenia. A dimensional/cross sectional approach was used. A mixed group of clients (n = 36) were assessed as part of a routine clinical evaluation.

Long-term outcome of depressive pseudodementia in the elderly.

Background: The term depressive pseudodementia has proved to be a popular clinical concept. Little is known about the long-term outcome of this syndrome.

Aims: To compare depressed elderly patients with reversible cognitive impairment and cognitively intact depressed elderly patients.