It was proposed that looking at the process and reactive syndromes in schizophrenia as end-points of a continuum of severity of illness, and at the same time as reflecting levels of personality organization, opens up a number of research strategies which offer promise of increasing our knowledge about schizophrenia. Several findings which support the value of the above mentioned proposals were discussed. The implications of these findings for better measurement of severity of illness in schizophrenia were pointed out. Finally, it was suggested that systematic use of severity measures in research on the etiology of schizophrenia may provide the key.