In a sample of 71 Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) schizophrenic patients, the relationship among the basic symptoms measured by the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire and Andreasen and Olsen's types of schizophrenia was studied. The results do not support an overlap between negative and basic symptoms; rather, basic symptoms appear to be more frequent in patients with positive symptoms. Basic symptoms were consistently correlated to formal thought disturbances, but the values were only moderate (r = .3).