Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale

Overview
The PANSS or the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale is a medical scale used for measuring symptom severity of patients with schizophrenia. It is widely used in the study of antipsychotic therapy. The name refers to the two types of symptoms in schizophrenia, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association: positive symptoms, which refer are an excess or distortion of normal functions, and negative symptoms, which represent a dimunition or loss of normal functions.