Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-6)

Clinical intent

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 known as the "gold standard" that all assessments of psychotic behavioral disorders should follow.[1]

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.[2]

References

[1] Opler, Mark G.A.; Yavorsky, Christian; Daniel, David G. (2017-12-01). "Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) Training". Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience. 14 (11–12): 77–81. ISSN 2158-8333. PMC 5788255. PMID 29410941. [2] "Mental Health and Schizophrenia". WebMD. Retrieved 2019-07-29. [3] Østergaard SD, Foldager L, Mors O, Bech P, Correll CU. The Validity and Sensitivity of PANSS-6 in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) Study. Schizophr Bull. 2018 Feb 15;44(2):453-462. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbx076. PMID: 28575321; PMCID: PMC5814988.