Objective: To illustrate the results of dichotomizing a continuous variable in a prediction model. Method: 202 patients who were discharged from the psychiatric ward, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) from 27th August 2007 to 15th April 2008 were recruited. The general psychopathology was measured with Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-24). The information on age, gender, race, marital status, occupation, psychiatric diagnosis, first onset, electroconvulsive therapy, substance use, oral treatment and depot injection were collected. On follow up, the patients who had early readmission.