[Developmental conditions and subjective experiences of children with a schizophrenic parent--qualitative and quantitative studies from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk].

Objective: 35 children 12-42 years of age of patients with schizophrenia (ABC-Cohort-12-year-follow-up) were interviewed for studying objective and subjective effects of growing up with a schizophrenic parent.

Material And Method: Social development and childhood experiences were assessed and quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated.

Results: The majority of probands had to take on early responsibilities in their family.

Depression in the long-term course of schizophrenia.

Depressive symptoms are quantitatively and qualitatively among the most important characteristics of schizophrenia. The following contribution reports on the prevalence of depression in 107 patients of the ABC schizophrenia study over 12 years after first hospital admission, looks into a preponderance of depression at certain stages of the illness and the predictive value of depressive symptoms for course and outcome. All but one of the 107 patients experienced one to 10 episodes of depressed mood between index assessment and long-term follow-up.