There is now sufficient evidence to dismiss the notion that people simply have schizophrenia or they don't. In one example of research conducted by Chapman and Chapman (1985) people who scored high on psychosis-proneness scales were followed up 10 years later. Fourteen of the 182 people in the sample had progressed into a diagnosed state of psychosis, but the others had not. This, and other studies, point to the fact that measures for predicting psychosis do seem to work, and that not all people with psychosis-proneness become psychotic. In turn this brings us to a point where we can appreciate that schizophrenia itself may not inevitable - its onset perhaps more likely to be triggered by any one or more additional factors.
References
Chapman, L.J., & Chapman, J.P. (1985) Psychosis Proneness. In M.Alpert (Ed.), Controversies in schizophrenia. New York: Guildford Press.
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (DSM-IV-TR) 4th ed., text revision. Washington, DC : American Psychiatric Association, 2000.
International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems (The) ICD-10 Second Edition Vol 3, 2nd ed., World Health Organization, Geneva.
Loranger, A.W., Sartorius, N., Andreoli, A. et al. (1994) The International Personality Disorders Examination: the World Health Organisation/Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration international study of personality disorders, Archives of General Psychiatry, 51: 215-23.
Widiger, T.A. & Costa, P.T. Jr (1994) Personality and Personality Disorders, Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 95: 43-51.
Widiger, T.A., Frances, A., and Trull, T.J. (1987) A psychometric analysis of the social-interpersonal and cognitive-perceptual items for the schizotypal personality disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44: 786-95.
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