Duration of untreated negative symptoms and duration of active negative symptoms: Proof of concepts

Abstract

Aim: Negative symptoms are responsible for enormous burden in schizophrenia; yet they remain under-recognized and under-treated. There is mounting evidence that early intervention is crucial and that response to treatment falls away with chronicity. Current measures of illness duration fail to adequately capture the true time course of negative symptoms and new concepts are required to correct this and to focus clinical attention. The aim of this paper is to introduce accurate measures of negative symptom duration. Methods: Two new concepts, the duration of untreated negative symptoms (DUNS) and the duration of active negative symptoms (DANS), were trialled in a first-episode sample with pri..