Introduction: The concept of praecox feeling (PF) was coined in 1941 by H.C.Rumke (1893-1967), who considered it highly specific to schizophrenia. However, it has been omitted in psychiatric semiology in recent years because it is considered too subjective and not useful as a diagnosis tool.
Objectives: To define praecox feeling and understand its role in modern psychiatry.
Methods: Review of literature from Pubmed database.
Results: The PF, parallel to the Jasperian “radical incomprehensibility” and the Gestaltian “grasp of the whole clinical presentation”, consists of a characteristic feeling of discomfort / bizarreness experienced early by the psychiatrist when in the presence of a person with schizophrenia. Impossibility of empathy, loss of affective resonance and instinctual rapport, and alterations in body expression and speech may contribute to that impression. Three studies with psychiatrists attempted to test its pertinence in diagnostic decision-making; the most recent one (Gozé, 2017) pointed to its presence in 90.1% of the respondents, being deemed reliable in 74.1%. Two other recent studies with patients attempted to compare the accuracy of FP versus current diagnostic criteria, with disparate results.
Conclusions: Although PF can not be considered for the reliable diagnosis of schizophrenia, this does not preclude its existence in clinical practice and its historical importance. PF could be useful to explore the experiences of the schizophrenic patient, its difficulties in interpersonal communication, and the importance of affectivity and empathy within the psychopathology of schizophrenia. Nowadays, it could make us question the importance of the intersubjective encounter and phenomenology in nosology.

IS THE PRAECOX FEELING A CONCEPT AT RISK OF EXTINCTION?