Neurological soft signs in psychoses. II: an explorative study of structural involvement amongst drug naive first episode patients

Background: The aims and objective of the study was to find out the different structural involvement in the three study groups, namely brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform psychosis, and schizophrenia as reflected by the neurological soft signs (NSS). Material and methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Psychiatry, Silchar Medical College and Hospital, Silchar, Cachar, Assam. In this study, we had further classified the soft signs into groups related to their corresponding brain structures as per the aims and objectives. Results: Our study consisted of 30 patients distributed into three case groups, namely brief psychotic disorder having 14 cases, schizophrenia having 12 cases, and only four cases in the schizophreniform group. We have made a novel attempt to establish a functional relationship between the structural involvement and the three groups of disorders under study through the evaluation of NSS at the onset of symptoms, which at times may not be possible to diagnose through currently available radio-imaging techniques. We have definitely found a predominant involvement of the cerebellum in the brief psychotic disorder and schizophrenia groups, and the involvement of parietal lobe in the schizophreniform psychosis group; although the results were not statistically significant. Conclusion: We hope that in future larger studies with more number of patients will shed definite lights in the present study findings.