Biological and psychosocial risk factors for psychotic major depression

RESULTS:

Living alone, basic level qualification, being unemployed), having contact with friends less than monthly, having no close confidants, having experienced childhood adversity, family history of mental illness, family history of psychosis, and having more neurological soft signs were all associated with a follow-up diagnosis of Psychotic Major Depression and schizophrenia.

Note: The term soft sign as it relates to neurological dysfunction is usually applied to reflect atypical performance on various psychomotor or somatosensory tasks often employed in the standard neurological examination.

Clinical neurological abnormalities like rigidity, gait imbalance, and tremors have been documented in patients with schizophrenia since the time of Kraepelin.[9] These Neurological Soft Signs (NSS) have been generally called “soft” neurological signs, in keeping with their reputed lack of specificity, validity, or localizing value.

More info on “soft signs”: