Diagnosis of Schizophrenia: Reliability of an Operationalized Approach to ‘Praecox-Feeling’

Measured against a best estimate research diagnosis in this study, praecox-feeling had modest sensitivity and specificity. Diagnostic agreement with the modern gold standard diagnosis of schizophrenia for all raters of praecox-feeling was poor. Although praecox-feeling appears to be an unreliable diagnostic compass, several lines of evidence suggest that its existence in clinical practice cannot be denied, which underscores the importance of a subjective element of unknown composition, magnitude and reliability in the diagnostic process that deserves more attention.