It is well known that schizophrenia has wide heterogenity of its long-term course and outcome. In 2004 ”The Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group” (Andreasen, Carpenter, Kane et al) developed an operational criteria system for the measurement of remission. In their consensus remission was defined by using an absolute threshold of severity of the diagnostic symptoms of schizophrenia rather than improvement from the baseline. Remission is a low-mild symptom intensity level, where the symptoms do not influence behavior. To measure remission they used a complex psychopathological scale, PANSS.

At the beginning of the 1970s we started a study, in which we investigated 185 patients. They were diagnosed according to Leonhard's classification of functional psychoses schizophrenia and cycloid psychoses (schizoaffective psychoses). We reinvestigated them 30 years later, using numerous psychopathological tests, including PANSS. For measuring the level of functioning, we estimated GAF also. The level of functioning was considered “good” when the GAF was higher than 60%. According to that 49% of schizophrenic patients had good prognosis, while this rate of schizoaffective patients was 95%.

We applied the remission conception to our patients and found that only 19% of the schizophrenic patients were in remission, in contrast with schizoaffective patients, where this rate was 90%.

This result confirmed that function and social adaptation did not move in parallel with the severity of psychopathological symptoms, and that this remission concept is a stringent standard.