One of the surprising findings that John Strauss, John Bartko, and I reported in the 1970s from the International Pilot Study for schizophrenia was the virtually nil relationship between measures of psychosis and functional outcomes. In this regard, one would not predict much effect of antipsychotic drugs on functional outcomes. This report from CATIE supports the view that drug discovery for functional outcomes needs to be based on the elements of schizophrenia most associated with function: cognition and negative symptoms.

References:

Strauss JS, Carpenter WT Jr. Characteristic symptoms and outcome in schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1974 Apr;30(4):429-34. No abstract available. Abstract

Strauss JS, Carpenter WT. Relationship between predictors and outcome variables:.... Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1974;31:37-42.

Strauss JS, Carpenter WT Jr. Prediction of outcome in schizophrenia. III. Five-year outcome and its predictors. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1977 Feb;34(2):159-63. Abstract

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