Studies of Depressive Symptoms in Schizophrenia

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Abstract
Summary: Depression assessed by clinical examination and Hamilton rating scale was found in half of 37 untreated new acute schizophrenics, and in about a third of chronic schizophrenics who relapsed whether treated with depot injections (89) or not (79). A significant part of depressive illness in schizophrenics is thus not drug-related. However, depression was commoner in those on higher doses of depot neuroleptic (P <.05) or who showed extrapyramidal side effects (P <.001), suggesting that drugs can play a part. Patients maintained in remission on moderate doses of depot drug had the lowest prevalence of depression.