Comment on Berenbaum, Oltmanns, and Gottesman (1985): "Formal thought disorder in schizophrenics and their twins."

Berenbaum, Oltmanns, and Gottesman (1985) reported no significant difference in the concordance for monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) schizophrenic twins in measures of thought disorder. They therefore concluded that thought disorder is not genetically transmitted. Although their data do not provide evidence in favor of genetic transmission, their negative conclusion is weakened because (a) they did not assess mild instances of thought disorder typically seen in nonpsychotic persons and because (b) comparison of MZ and DZ concordances may not be a sufficiently powerful test to detect genetic influences on traits that both contribute to the risk for a disease and reflect the severity of the disease once established. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of formal thought disorder to the communication deficit in schizophrenics.

Evaluated 40 schizophrenics and 20 normals on a social communication task and on an individual cognitive task, both designed to reveal decentering deficits. It was hypothesized that the processes underlying the schizophrenic's thought disorder are formally similar to the processes involved in his deviant organization of social situations, specifically social communication, with both deficits to be interpreted in terms of faulty decentering. Schizophrenics manifested a decentering deficit on both the social communication (p     

Formal operations in reactive and process schizophrenics.

Administered E. S. Lunzer's Analogies Test (tapping formal operations) to 40 male process schizophrenics, 15 reactive schizophrenics, and 14 normal controls in a test of the hypothesis that reactive Ss demonstrate more formal operational capacities than process Ss and that normal Ss perform better than both schizophrenic groups. In selecting Ss, an attempt was made to control for age, sex, race, education, length of hospitalization, incidence of addiction problems, number of ECS treatments, and incidence of organic brain pathology. Analyses of variance and covariance supported the basic hypothesis even when differences in general vocabulary level were controlled. Piaget's theory is discussed as providing an explanatory framework for pathological as well as normal cognitive processes. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Formal thought disorder and psychopathology in pediatric primary generalized and complex partial epilepsy

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether formal thought disorder and psychopathology occurred in children with complex partial seizures (CPS) rather than children with primary generalized epilepsy with absences (PGE) or nonepileptic children. METHOD: Formal thought disorder was coded in 30 children with CPS, 24 children with PGE, and 61 nonepileptic children, and structured interview-based psychiatric diagnoses were obtained for the epileptic subjects. RESULTS: The CPS subjects had significantly more illogical thinking than the PGE and nonepileptic children. The severity of their illogical thinking was related to global cognitive dysfunction and a schizophrenia-like psychosis. Age of onset and seizure control, however, were significantly associated with the severity of illogical thinking in the PGE group. One or more psychiatric diagnoses were found in 63% of the CPS and 54% of the PGE patients, particularly if they had global cognitive deficits. CONCLUSION: Illogical thinking, associated with cognitive dysfunction or schizophrenia-like symptoms, might be a feature of pediatric CPS. Psychopathology might be related to global cognitive dysfunction in pediatric CPS and PGE.     

Reference performance and positive and negative thought disorder: A follow-up study of manics and schizophrenics.

Manic (n?=?22) and schizophrenic (n?=?28) patients were examined with clinical and linguistic measures of language performance at an acute admission and at a follow-up. It was found that the frequency of incompetent references and the severity of negative thought disorder were stable independent traits of schizophrenics. Furthermore, low levels of verbal productivity, indexed both clinically and linguistically, predicted the likelihood that schizophrenic subjects would be psychotic at follow-up. The language performance of manic patients was not temporally stable, although high levels of reference failures at index predicted psychosis at follow-up. These results are evaluated in terms of their implications for differentiating state-specific aspects of speech competence from potential vulnerability markers in these two types of patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent and predictive validity of thought disorder and affectivity: A 22-year follow-up of acute schizophrenics.

Followed-up 51 male patients with hospital diagnoses of schizophrenia in the military service through VA hospital records 20 yrs after their initial service hospitalization. Results reveal that severity of thought disorder did not predict outcome, but measures of affectivity and interpersonal competence did so with high significance. The question of why affectivity has received so little attention in the research literature is addressed. It is suggested that recent research diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia are inadequate, because the criteria focus almost exclusively on the less predictive symptoms of disordered thought and exclude assessment of affectivity and interpersonal competence. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language production and thought disorder in schizophrenia.

The authors examined the relationship between language production (LP) processes and thought disorder. Thirty-nine schizophrenic or schizoaffective participants completed tasks measuring discourse planning, monitoring, and grammatical–phonological encoding, as well as an interview used to rate thought disorder. The authors found that different LP processes were differentially related to different thought disorder subtypes. Incompetent references were strongly and selectively related to discourse planning performance. In addition, word approximations–neologisms were strongly and specifically associated with grammatical–phonological encoding performance. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for understanding the multifaceted nature and etiology of thought disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Left-handedness and thought disorder in the schizophrenias.

The relation between language dysfunction and handedness was examined in a sample of 58 male schizophrenic patients. Severity and type of language dysfunction were assessed using ratings on categories of thought disorder derived from the Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (Spitzer & Endicott, 1977). Hand preferred for writing was the criterion for handedness. In this sample, the incidence of left-handedness was raised and left-handedness was associated with the presence and severity of thought disorder. These findings are congruent with the hypothesis that a sizable proportion of left-handed schizophrenic individuals are left-handed because of a disruption in the pattern of hemispheric dominance that also impairs language functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family interaction with schizophrenics and their siblings.

24 families, each including both parents, a schizophrenic, and a nonschizophrenic adolescent, were subdivided into a parent-patient and a parent-nonpatient triad and asked to solve collectively the questions from the Comprehension and Similarities subtests of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale. The groups' recorded discussions were compared for problem-solving efficiency, mutual support patterns, and parent-child sex-role alignments. Contrary to predictions, the 2 triads displayed equal efficiency; parents supported both children equally; fathers and mothers were equally dominant. Patients were more supportive of their parents than were siblings, while parental discord was more prominent in patient than in nonpatient groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between formal thought disorder and retardation in schizophrenia.

17 schizophrenics admitted into the hospital less than 6 mo before were compared on Bannister's Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder with 19 schizophrenics admitted over 6 mo before and with a group of 17 nonschizophrenic, psychiatric controls under 3 conditions: fast rate of responding, slow rate of responding, and in-between rate of responding. It was predicted that the schizophrenics would show more thought disorder under fast than slow conditions and that the recently admitted schizophrenics would be more thought disordered than the earlier admitted schizophrenics. Contrary to expectations, the patients tended to show less thought disorder on the test when their responses were speeded than when they were encouraged to take their time. Moreover, the earlier admitted schizophrenics showed more thought disorder than the recently admitted schizophrenics under all 3 conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive thought disorder in a hypothetically psychosis-prone population.

Proverb interpretations of subjects who scored high on the Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation Scale (Per-Mags) (Chapman & Chapman, 1985) were compared with those of low-scoring controls. Responses to 10 familiar and 3 unfamiliar proverbs were scored for Bizarre-idiosyncratic thinking (J. Marengo et al; see record 1987-30079-001) and literalness (C. A. Hertler et al; see record 1979-12346-001). A Group by Type of Proverb (familiar versus unfamiliar) interaction was found for bizarre-idiosyncratic scores; Per-Mags scored higher than controls on unfamiliar, but not familiar proverbs. The Group?×?Familiarity interaction for bizarre-idiosyncratic scores indicates that the Per-Mag group displayed a subclinical, positive-thought disorder that is affected by the familiarity of the proverbs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego boundary impairment and thought disorder in frequent nightmare sufferers.

This investigation examined the proposed relationship between nightmare frequency and ego boundary impairment (Hartmann, 1984) in a sample of female college students. Thirty frequent nightmare sufferers (at least one attack per week) and 30 controls (maximum of one nightmare per year) were compared. In order to measure ego boundary impairment, the Rorschach inkblot test was administered and scored for barrier and penetration responses (Fisher & Cleveland, 1968) and indices of thought disorder (Blatt & Ritzler, 1974). An ego boundary questionnaire developed by Hartmann and colleagues (Hartmann, 1989; Hartmann et al., 1987) was also administered. Although barrier and penetration scores did not discriminate, the frequent-nightmare subjects demonstrated more disordered thinking on the Rorschach (p     

Thought disorder in schizophrenics and normal controls: Social class and race differences.

Tested the usefulness of a measure of thought disorder, the Thought Disorder Index (TDI), for assessing those other than White middle-class patients. The TDI is based on deviant language patterns. 101 hospitalized schizophrenic patients, first-degree relatives of schizophrenics, and normal controls were compared on TDI scores by social class, race, and diagnosis. There were 53 White and 48 Black Ss. TDI scores accurately distinguished among the 3 psychiatric categories for both Black and White subgroups. Normal language patterns of Black and lower-class people are clearly distinguishable from those conveying instances of thought slippage and those occurring in psychotic patients and in their parents. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of subliminal neutral and aggressive stimuli on the thought processes of schizophrenics.

Attempted to replicate with some modification L. H. Silverman's (1966, 1967, 1968) studies which examined the effects of subliminal neutral and aggressive stimuli on the thought processes of schizophrenics. The present sample consisted of 24 male patients all diagnosed as schizophrenic with no secondary diagnosis. Utilizing classical experimental procedures, they were seen in counterbalanced order for an experimental and control session. Inkblot responses (Rorschach) were obtained following 4-msec tachistoscopic exposure to an aggressive and neutral (relatively unaggressive) stimulus. The responses were scored according to the latest version of Holt's Manual for scoring primary process. In addition, a measure of nonverbal pathological behavior was obtained. Findings do not confirm those of Silverman with respect to an increase in pathological thinking and/or nonverbal pathological behavior following subliminal aggressive stimulation. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of formal thought disorder and referential communication disturbances in schizophrenia.

This study examined the degree to which different types of communication disturbances in the speech of 48 schizophrenia patients and 28 controls were variable and state related versus stable and traitlike. Clinically rated formal thought disorder and 5 types of referential disturbance showed substantial stability within participants over time. The sixth type of referential disturbance, the vague reference, was not stable over time. Formal thought disorder was associated with the severity of core psychotic symptoms in patients, whereas referential disturbances showed little or no association with positive or negative symptom severity. Furthermore, changes in psychotic symptoms over time were accompanied by corresponding changes in formal thought disorder but not referential disturbances. These results support the idea that some types of referential disturbances are traitlike and may be reflective of vulnerability as well as manifest illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical cohesion and formal thought disorder during and after psychotic episodes.

Compared speech samples obtained from 10 schizophrenics (mean age 28 yrs), 11 manics (mean age 26.2 yrs), 11 schizoaffectives (mean age 25.8 yrs), and 10 normals (mean age 33.6 yrs) for the amount of lexical cohesion both within and between clauses. Two speech samples were obtained for each patient: one shortly after admission to a psychiatric hospital and another several weeks following discharge. All psychiatric patients showed evidence of formal thought disorder at admission, and all 3 groups showed a significant decline in the extent of thought disorder at follow-up. There were no differences between groups with regard to between-clause lexical cohesion at either point in time. Within-clause lexical cohesion did distinguish among the psychiatric groups at the 1st assessment interval; schizophrenics showed less within-clause lexical cohesion than the manics or schizoaffective patients. The manics and the schizoaffectives showed a significant decline in the amount of within-clause lexical cohesion from initial assessment to follow-up. The schizophrenics exhibited a modest decline in the amount of between-clause lexical cohesion. Results indicate that diagnostic differences in lexical cohesion depended on the specificity of the measure and suggest that there are subtle differences between the forms of verbal-communication impairment observed in schizophrenic and affective disorders. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of Chapman's theory of schizophrenic thought disorder.

Tested the validity of L. J. Chapman's (1964) theory of schizophrenic thought disorder. The vocabulary test from the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale for Measuring Intellectual Impairment served as the control task, and the multiple-choice vocabulary test used by T. B. Boland and L. J. Chapman (see record 1972-03368-001) to disclose a schizophrenic deficit related to thought disorder served as the experimental task. Two groups of 97 hospitalized psychiatric patients, one group classified as schizophrenic and the other as psychiatric controls, served as Ss. Both groups performed below the normal level reported by Boland and Chapman but somewhat above the mean level of the chronic schizophrenics they tested. The schizophrenic group in this study did not perform differently from the psychiatric controls on the experimental task. Results indicate that some factor other than schizophrenic thought disorder was being measured by the experimental task. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between formal thought disorder and executive functioning component processes.

In 2 studies, associations between formal thought disorder (FTD) and 2 components of executive functioning, processing of context and interference resolution, were investigated. One study, involving people with schizophrenia, examined associations between performance on processing of context (N-back) and interference resolution (interference in Steinberg probe recognition) tasks and FTD. The second study, involving nonpsychiatric participants, was an analogue study that examined the effects of simulated processing of context (performance of 1-back with distraction) and interference resolution (telling new stories about previously seen pictures) deficits on FTD in a speech production task. In both studies, processing of context deficits predicted FTD. Moreover, in both studies, the effect of processing of context deficits on FTD was especially pronounced when combined with interference resolution deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflicting predictions from Broen's and Chapman's theories of schizophrenic thought disorder.

Developed multiple-choice vocabulary items containing a correct alternative which was the dominant (most frequent) response for normal ss, an associative distractor alternative of nearly equal frequency, and an irrelevant alternative. W. Broen and L. Storms's theory predicts that a response which is nondominant for normals can never become dominant for schizophrenics, while L. Chapman's theory predicts that such a response can do so if it expresses a normal response bias. 26 chronic schizophrenics chose significantly more associative than correct responses on items for which 26 normals (matched on sex, age, education, and social position) chose significantly more correct than associative. Results are consistent with chapman's theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)