BACKGROUND: The assessment of functioning disability in patients with mental disorders and mainly in schizophrenia has increased in the last years. The social function impairment is nowadays recognized as an important symptom of schizophrenia. Many tools to measure social function impairment have been developed. OBJECTIVE: This article discusses the assessment of functioning disability in schizophrenic patients. METHOD: The results of recently reported reviews of the literature are summarized and commented. RESULTS: Several studies have evaluated the importance of Personal and Social Performance assessments in schizophrenia. These assessments have been shown as a reliable outcome measure in clinical trials and rehabilitation programs. CONCLUSION: Axis V has been inserted to the multiaxial system in DSM-III for assessing global function in mental disorders. DSM-IV has brought axis V up to date with improvements of accurate scales for clinical practice. Personal and Social Performance scale (PSP) was developed by Morosini et al. (2000). PSP is a useful and practical scale for assessing rehabilitation and pharmacology interventions in schizophrenic patients.
Schizophrenia; personal and social performance; axis V; rehabilitation