Thomas A. Ban: In Historical Perspective: Peralta, Cuesta and their associates’ findings on the highest familiality of Leonhard’s classification in polynosologic study  

Thomas A. Ban’s question to Victor Peralta  

In your polynosologic study in patents with psychotic disorders you found the highest “familiality” estimates obtained by using Leonhard’s classification, followed by an empirical classification, the DSM-IV of the American Psychiatric Association (1994) and the ICD-10 of the World Health Organization  (1994), in this order. In fact, by classifying patients on the basis of Leonhard’s (1999) criteria significantly more “familaility” was obtained than by classifying patients on the basis of DSM-IV and ICD-10 criteria. Based on these findings, you suggested that using Leonhard’s classification may be better suited for molecular genetic research than the official diagnostic systems. Undoubtedly this was the case in the study on which your report was based. Yet, when looking at some of the details of your analyses (Cetkovich 2016; Franzek 2016), as for example the higher “familiality” in the “systematic schizophrenias” than in the “unsystematic schizophrenias” your findings are in the opposite direction to the finding of Leonhard (1999) and some other investigators who published on higher “familiality” in the “unsystematic schizophrenias” than in “systematic schizophrenias” (Beckmann and Franzek 2000; Franzek and Beckmann 1998). Your finding of high “familiality” in ”cycloid psychosis”  is also in  variance with the finding of Leonhard (1999) and some others (Pfuhlman, Jabs, Althaus et al 2004) It would be important to know where these discrepancies come from? Do you have any idea?

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth Edition. Washington: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.

Beckmann H, Franzek E. The genetic heterogeneity of “schizophrenia.” The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry: The Official Journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry2000; 1: 35-41. 



Cetkovich M. Comment on Thomas A. Ban: In Historical Perspective: Peralta, Cuesta and their associates findings on the highest familiailty of Leonhard’s classification in polynosologic study. INHN Perspective April 28, 2016.

Franzek E. Comment on Larry Stein’s comment on Thomas A. Ban: In Historical Perspective: Peralta, Cuesta and their associates findings on the highest familiailty of Leonhard’s classification in polynosologic study. INHN Perspective August 25, 2016.

Franzek E, Beckmann H. Different genetic background of schizophrenia spectrum psychoses: a twin study. The American Journal of Psychiatry 1998; 155: 76-83.

Leonhard K. Classification of Endogenous Psychoses and their Differentiated Etiology. Revised and enlarged edition. Vienna/New York: Springer; 1999.

Peralta V, Goldberg X, Ribeiro M, Sanches-Torres AM, Fananas L, Cuesta MJ. Familiality of psychotic disorders: A polynosologic study in multiple families. Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access, December 26, 2015.

Pfuhlmann B, Jabs B, Althaus G, Schmidtke A, Bartsch A, et al.  Cycloid psychoses are not part of a bipolar affective spectrum: results of a controlled family study. Journal of Affective Disorders 2004; 83: 11-19. 


World Health Organization. International Classification of Diseases 10th edition. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1994,

 

Thomas A. Ban

September 1, 2016