8 subtypes of sz?

Schizophrenia 'made up of eight specific genetic disorders' - Medical News Today
PsychiatryOnline | American Journal of Psychiatry | Uncovering the Hidden Risk Architecture of the Schizophrenias: Confirmation in Three Independent Genome-Wide Association Studies
second link is the direct article but most won't be able to access it but those at universities or with a subscription can. First link is a good synopsis.

Anyway the authors of the huge GWAS study earlier this year are now breaking up sz into 8 different subtypes with different genetic make-ups and phenotypes----this is kind of huge because you could get different treatments for each. I really need to read this is more detail but I was just excited and it's blowing up in the media right now so some of you might be interested. I have to pull back out my genome results because it is based on SNPs just like 23 and me is----not sure which chips they used though.

It's not clear to me why they picked 8----there are so many more snp patterns 20 which correlate with specific phenotypes----its like they were still trying to fit within the DSM framework rather than simply establishing something new----that makes me a little sad....

What were the 8 subtypes, did they give much information in the journal as to what they were?

There only appears to be a reference to a single subtype in the article.

Yes there is a page and a half chart describing the subtypes because there can be multiple phenotypes even within the single subtype. Its pretty extensive but they are as follows.

Severe process, with positive and negative symptom sz
Positive and negative sz
negative sz
positive sz
severe process, postive sz
moderate process, disorganized negative sz
moderate process, positive and negative sz
moderate process continuous positive sz

These have between 2-17 phenotypic profiles each (I can't type them out they are long) which is why its not clear to me why there are 8 groups----for example there are 17 phenotypes for the severe process +/- sz three of those have associated genotypes with SNP sets the others are still unknown

but +/- sz has two phenotypes and two SNP sets. I'm just not sure why it's like they are still sticking to the DSM or something but their data suggest many more types especially when there is more than one SNP set per type and different phenotypes it seems artificial.

Maybe they chose those eight for practical purposes, so it's easier to study them.

It would be good if they explained what these eight subtypes. Like what's severe/moderate process, what's "continuous" positive, and so forth. Does process indicate severity of illness? If so, why third and fourth one you listed, has no mention of process?

So yeah, I mean the original article is confusing.

From what I could find on Google...

Process Schizophrenia

An obsolete term for those forms of severe schizophrenic disorders in which chronic and progressive biologic conditions in the brain are considered to be the primary cause and in which prognosis is also poor, with insidious onset at a young age, as contrasted with reactive schizophrenia.

Reactive Schizophrenia

A form of schizophrenia caused by environmental factors rather than by organic changes in the brain. Disease onset is usually rapid, symptoms are of brief duration, and the affected individual appears well immediately before and after the schizophrenic episode.

I don't know if that helps.

Thank you it does help I appreciate it.

There is definitely variation. I have noticed in some people their schizophrenia resembles a neurological disorder, because it has some symptoms that resemble Parkinson's Disease. Others don't have these symptoms at all.

This is the Psych Central article on the study:

8 Disorders Instead of One? The Role Gene Clusters Play in Schizophrenia