Introduction

Within psychological testing, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) is a rating scale to measure positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

The scale was developed by Nancy Andreasen and was first published in 1984. SAPS is split into 4 domains, and within each domain separate symptoms are rated from 0 (absent) to 5 (severe). The scale is closely linked to the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) which was published a few years earlier.

Items

• Hallucinations:
  • Auditory Hallucinations.
  • Voices Commenting.
  • Voices Conversing.
  • Somatic or Tactile Hallucinations.
  • Olfactory Hallucinations.
  • Visual Hallucinations.
  • Global Rating of Severity of Hallucinations.

• Delusions:
  • Persecutory Delusions.
  • Delusions of Jealousy.
  • Delusions of Sin or Guilt.
  • Grandiose Delusions.
  • Religious Delusions.
  • Somatic Delusions.
  • Ideas and Delusions of Reference.
  • Delusions of Being Controlled.
  • Delusions of Mind Reading.
  • Thought Broadcasting.
  • Thought Insertion.
  • Thought Withdrawal.
  • Global Rating of Severity of Delusions.

• Bizarre Behaviour:
  • Clothing and Appearance.
  • Social and Sexual Behaviour.
  • Aggressive and Agitated Behaviour.
  • Repetitive or Stereotyped Behaviour.
  • Global Rating of Severity of Bizarre Behaviour.

• Positive Formal Thought Disorder:
  • Derailment (loose associations).
  • Tangentiality.
  • Incoherence (Word salad, Schizophasia).
  • Illogicality.
  • Circumstantiality.
  • Pressure of speech.
  • Distractible speech.
  • Clanging.
  • Global Rating of Positive Formal Thought Disorder.