measures severity of individuals with schizophrenia
The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is a medical scale used for measuring symptom severity of patients with schizophrenia. It was published in 1987 by Stanley Kay, Lewis Opler, and Abraham Fiszbein. It is widely used in the study of antipsychotic therapy. The scale is the "gold standard" for evaluating the effects of psychopharmacological treatments.[1][2]
The name refers to the two types of symptoms in schizophrenia, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association: positive symptoms, which refer to an excess or distortion of normal functions (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), and negative symptoms, which represent a diminution or loss of normal functions. Some of these functions which may be lost include normal thoughts, actions, ability to tell fantasies from reality, and the ability to properly express emotions.[3]
The PANSS is a relatively brief interview, requiring 45 to 50 minutes to administer.[4] The interviewer must be trained to a standardized level of reliability.[5]
Interview items
To assess a patient using PANSS, an approximately 45-minute clinical interview is conducted. The patient is rated from 1 to 7 on 30 different symptoms based on the interview as well as reports of family members or primary care hospital workers.[6]
16 Items, (minimum score = 16, maximum score = 112)
Somatic concern
Anxiety
Guilt feelings
Tension
Mannerisms and posturing
Depression
Motor retardation
Uncooperativeness
Unusual thought content
Disorientation
Poor attention
Lack of judgment and insight
Disturbance of volition
Poor impulse control
Preoccupation
Active social avoidance
PANSS Total score minimum = 30, maximum = 210
Scoring
As 1 rather than 0 is given as the lowest score for each item, a patient can not score lower than 30 for the total PANSS score. Scores are often given separately for the positive items, negative items, and general psychopathology. In their original publication on the PANSS scale, Stanley Kay and colleagues tested the scale on 101 adult patients (20-68 years-old) with schizophrenia[4] and the mean scores were,
Positive scale = 18.20
Negative scale = 21.01
General psychopathology = 37.74
Based on meta-analytic results, an alternative five-factor solution of the PANSS was proposed with positive symptoms, negative symptoms, disorganization, excitement, and emotional distress.[7]
