Neurological soft signs in psychoses. I: a comparative study of prevalence amongst drug naive first episode patients

Background: The aims and objective of the study was to find out the prevalence of neurological soft signs (NSS) amongst the three groups of psychiatric disorder which were brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform psychosis, and schizophrenia. Material and methods: The study was conducted over a period of seven months starting from 1st of May, 2010 to 30th November, 2010. NSS were assessed by the Heidelberg Manual. Results: We found that all the patients from each of the three groups have shown at least one or more neurological abnormalities. The present study found a significant association between types of NSS namely in group of motor coordination, motor sequencing, and sensory integration, and the different category of disorders under study whereas the severity of neurological impairment was not found to be significantly associated within the three groups. Conclusion: We hope that in future larger studies observing for long period of time will shed definite lights in the present study findings.