الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 187 |  |  |
| | | from | 187 | | |
Abstract
Background: Affective blunting or flattening is generally regarded as fundamental to any concept of negative symptoms with or without the inclusion of other symptoms. Considering the heterogeneity found in the clinical manifestations of schizophrenia, affective blunting could be accounted for, by the interpenetration between the primary or core psychopathology and varying characteristics of the individual and the environment. So far, the core affective blunting cannot be distinguished cross-sectionally from the secondary one. In that context, the term deficit syndrome was proposed when referring longitudinally to those negative symptoms that are present as enduring characteristics with the primary psychopathology has been ruled out. It was assumed, in this study, that there is certain cross-sectional phenomenological differences for stable versus unstable affective blunting. Proposed predictive criteria was used to verify this hypothesis. Methods: Acutely disturbed, drug free 45 schizophrenic patients were assessed at the hight of the index episode. They had undergone clinical evaluation and scaling procedures that includes socioeconomic status,