The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is a 30 item instrument for evaluating patients with schizophrenia. This evaluates the patient based on the severity of positive, negative and general psychological features. The authors are from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
The scale is based on the hypothesis that there are 2 main syndromes in schizophrenia:
(1) composed of productive ("positive") features
(2) composed of deficit ("negative") features
Positive Scale: delusions, conceptual disorganization, hallucinatory behavior, excitement, grandiosity, suspiciousness, and hostility.
Negative Scale: blunted affect, emotional withdrawal, poor rapport, passive/apathetic social withdrawal, difficulty in abstract thinking, lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation, stereotyped thinking.
General Psychological Scale: 16 items associated with general psychological morbidity (anxiety, guilt, disorientation, etc.)
positive scale score =
= SUM(points for all 7 positive items)
negative scale score =
= SUM(points for all 7 negative items)
general psychopathology scale (GPS) score =
= SUM(points for the 16 GPS items)
composite index =
= (positive scale score) – (negative scale score)
