There is continuing and growing interest in the interrelationships between premorbid personality, precipitative or concurrent events, and the occurrence and forms of overt mental illness. This is a clinical study of schizophrenia which examines the presenting complaints, symptoms, and signs that necessitated hospitalization. Clinical records were also examined for demographic data, premorbid personality type, prior decompensations, and possible stresses to which patients were exposed in the 60-day period immediately prior to their entry into the hospital.
Subjects and Method
During the three years 1956-1958, 2,302 active duty male military patients were evaluated and discharged from the Psychiatry Service at Walter Reed General Hospital. Seven hundred and eighty five of these patients were diagnosed schizophrenic reaction, of which 201 (25.6%) were returned to duty in good remission, fit for service, and eligible for re-enlistment.* Four hundred and sixty-nine (59.7%) recovered sufficiently to be discharged from