The “schizophrenia spectrum” concept allowed better identifying the psychopathology underpinning disorders including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder (SZA) and cluster A personality disorders (PD).

To compare the clinical portrait of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders, focusing on the impact of the affective dimension.

Inpatients at the acute psychiatric ward of Perugia (Umbria-Italy) were evaluated with the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I and Axis II disorders and diagnosed with a “schizophrenia spectrum” disorder according to DSM-IV-TR. The clinical evaluation was conducted using the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Pearson correlations of the different subscales in the three groups and between the negative scales with the affective symptom “depression” were conducted.

The sample consisted of 72 inpatients (schizophrenia 55.6%, SZA 20% and cluster A PD 19.4%). The negative and the general psychopathology scales directly correlated at different degrees in the three groups (schizophrenia: r = 0.750; P < 0.001; SZA: r = 0.625, P = 0.006; cluster A PD: r = 0.541, P = 0.046). The symptom “depression” directly correlated with 5 out of 7 negative symptoms: blunted affect (r = 0.616, P < 0.001), emotional withdrawal (r = 0.643, P < 0.001), poor rapport (r = 0.389, P = 0.001), passive/apathetic social withdrawal (r = 0.538, P < 0.001), lack of spontaneity & flow of conversation (r = 0.399, P = 0.001).

Our study confirmed the existence of the “schizophrenia spectrum” with combined different disorders lying on a continuum in which negative symptoms mainly correlated with the psychopathological functioning. Noteworthy, the symptoms of the negative scale strongly correlated with the “depression” symptom, underlying the impact of the affective symptoms on the severity of the “schizophrenia spectrum” disorders.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.