The Schizophreniform States—A Katamnestic Study Based on Individual Re-Examinations—With Special Reference to Diagnostic and Prognostic Clues and with a View to Presenting a Standard Material for Comparison with the Remissions Effected by Shock Treatment

This brochure embodies further research on the part of the author into the problem of schizophrenia and is a sequel to his former publication, The Prognosis in Schizophrenia, a review of which appeared in the Indian Medical Gazette in 1938. Like its precursor, the present work is one of extreme importance. The author's research took the form of a personal examination of 100 cases discharged from the University Psychiatric Clinic in Oslo, at the most twelve and at the least six 3rears after their discharge. The object of the investigation was to try to ascertain what cases show spontaneous remission without treatment and what cases, by virtue of the manner of their development and symptomatology, yield a poor prognosis. The author refers to the work of Jacobowsky, Rian and Soininen in which it was shown that those suffering from a typical schizophrenia, that is to say, showing symptoms with manic-depressive features as well as a strong hereditaiy taint, give the best results. On the other hand, the typical endogenic ' process psychoses' (by which term the author means to indicate schizophrenic conditions characterized by