Gender Differences in Affective, Schizoaffective, and Schizophrenic Disorders

Abstract The authors review the literature on sex differences in four DSM-III diagnoses: schizophrenia, schizoaffective psychoses, unipolar and bipolar affective disorders. The findings indicate that (1) gender differences occur most frequently in schizophrenic patients: schizophrenic women exhibit a less deteriorated course of illness; (2) sex differences in affective disordered patients support the unipolar-bipolar subtype distinction; and (3) sex differences are less compelling but also less studied in schizoaffective disorder. Theories attempting to explain sex differences in schizophrenia are reviewed.