Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T12:15:05.585Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Factor Structure of the Bern Psychopathology Scale in a Sample of Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Fabian U. Lang ,
Annabel S. Stierlin ,
Katharina Stegmayer ,
Sebastian Walther ,
Thomas Becker  and
Markus Jäger
Fabian U. Lang*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ludwig-Heilmeyer-Street 2, 89312Günzburg, Germany
Annabel S. Stierlin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ludwig-Heilmeyer-Street 2, 89312Günzburg, Germany Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Schwabstraße 13, 89075Ulm, Germany
Katharina Stegmayer
Affiliation:
University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bollingenstraße 111, 3000 Bern 60, Switzerland
Sebastian Walther
Affiliation:
University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bollingenstraße 111, 3000 Bern 60, Switzerland
Thomas Becker
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ludwig-Heilmeyer-Street 2, 89312Günzburg, Germany
Markus Jäger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ludwig-Heilmeyer-Street 2, 89312Günzburg, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 8221 96 00; fax: +49 8221 96 28 160. E-mail address: fabian.lang@uni-ulm.de (F.U. Lang).
Get access

Abstract

Background:

The Bern Psychopathology Scale (BPS) is based on a system-specific approach to classifying the psychopathological symptom pattern of schizophrenia. It consists of subscales for three domains (language, affect and motor behaviour) that are hypothesized to be related to specific brain circuits. The aim of the study was to examine the factor structure of the BPS in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Methods:

One hundred and forty-nine inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were recruited at the Department of Psychiatry II, Ulm University, Germany (n = 100) and at the University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern, Switzerland (n = 49). Psychopathology was assessed with the BPS. The VARCLUS procedure of SAS® (a type of oblique component analysis) was used for statistical analysis.

Results:

Six clusters were identified (inhibited language, inhibited motor behaviour, inhibited affect, disinhibited affect, disinhibited language/motor behaviour, inhibited language/motor behaviour) which explained 40.13% of the total variance of the data. A binary division of attributes into an inhibited and disinhibited cluster was appropriate, although an overlap was found between the language and motor behaviour domains. There was a clear distinction between qualitative and quantitative symptoms.

Conclusions:

The results argue for the validity of the BPS in identifying subsyndromes of schizophrenia spectrum disorders according to a dimensional approach. Future research should address the longitudinal assessment of dimensional psychopathological symptoms and elucidate the underlying neurobiological processes.

Keywords

Factor analysisSchizophrenia spectrum disordersSystem-specific approachBern Psychopathology Scale
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 30 , Issue 7 , October 2015 , pp. 880 - 884
Copyright
European Psychiatric Association 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5), 5th ed., Washington DC: American Psychiatric Pub; 2013.Google Scholar
Andreasen, NC, Olsen, SO. Negative vs. positive schizophrenia. Definition and validation. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1982;39:789–794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bracht, T, Heidemeyer, K, Koschorke, P, Horn, H, Razavi, N, Wopfner, A, et al.Comparison of objectively measured motor behavior with ratings of the motor behavior domain of the Bern Psychopathology Scale (BPS) in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 2012;198:224–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crow, T. Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process?. Br Med J 1980;280:66–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBWStructured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), Clinician Version. Administration Booklet, 1st ed., Airlington: American Psychiatric Pub; 2012.Google Scholar
Foussias, G, Remington, G. Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: avolition and Occam's razor. Schizophr Bull 2010;36:359–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D, Dunn, G, Fowler, D, Bebbington, P, Kuipers, E, Emsley, R, et al.Current paranoid thinking in patients with delusions: the presence of cognitive-affective biases. Schizophr Bull 2013;39:1281–1287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garety, PA, Gittins, M, Jolley, S, Bebbington, P, Dunn, G, Kuipers, E, et al.Differences in cognitive and emotional processes between persecutory and grandiose delusions. Schizophr Bull 2013;39:629–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kay, SR, Fiszbein, A, Opler, LA. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 1987;13:261–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, FU, Walther, S, Stegmayer, K, Anderson-Schmidt, H, Schulze, TG, Becker, T, et al.Subtyping schizophrenia: a comparison of positive/negative and system-specific approaches. Compr Psychiatry 2015;61:115–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2015.05.014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonhard, KClassification of endogenous psychoses and their differentiated etiology. Berlin: Springer Science and Business Media; 1999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreno, I, de Vega, M, Leon, I, Bastiaansen, M, Glen Lewis, A, Magyari, L. Brain dynamics in the comprehension of action-related language. A time-frequency analysis of mu rhythms. Neuroimage 2015;109:50–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morres, M, Docx, L, Walther, S. Beyond boundaries: in search of an integrative view on motor symptoms in schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry 2014;5:145.Google Scholar
Papeo, L, Pascual-Leone, A, Carramazza, A. Disrupting the brain to validate hypotheses on the neurobiology of language. Front Hum Neurosci 2013;24:148.Google Scholar
Strik, W, Wopfner, A, Horn, H, Koschorke, P, Razavi, N, Walther, S, et al.The Bern Psychopathology Scale for the assessment of system-specific psychotic symptoms. Neuropsychobiology 2010;61:197–209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Udo, T, McKee, SA, White, MA, Masheb, RM, Barnes, RD, Grilo, CM. The factor structure of the metabolic syndrome in obese individuals with binge eating disorder. J Psychosom Res 2014;76(2):152–157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van der Heijden, FM, Tuinier, S, Arts, N, Hoogendoorn, ML, Kahn, RS, Verhoeven, WM. Catatonia: disappeared or under-diagnosed?. Psychopathology 2005;38:3–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walther, S, Strik, W. Motor symptoms and schizophrenia. Neuropsychobiology 2012;66:77–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1992.Google Scholar
Xiaobo, L, Branch, VA, DeLisi, LELanguage pathway abnormalities in schizophrenia: a review of fMRI and other imaging studies. Curr Opin Psychiatry 2009;22(2):131–139.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.