Stressful Life Events and Schizophrenia

Abstract
The occurrence of stressful life events in relation to illness onset and family history of schizophrenia was assessed in 52 chronic schizophrenic patients. Severe or extreme premorbid stress was present in 15.4% of the patients. ‘Low stress’ patients were indistinguishable from ‘high stress’ patients with respect to the familial rate of schizophrenia and other ‘spectrum’ disorders.