Stress responses and coping propensity among paranoid and nonparanoid, episodic, and remitted schizophrenics.

28 remitted and 28 episodic paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics performed a "coping task" consisting of a simple tapping response purported to affect the duration of stressing loud sounds. Cognitive appraisals of the effectiveness of the available response, and task-performance measures of propensity (vis-à-vis reticence) to engage in the response were monitored. Results indicate both paranoid and nonparanoid Ss appraised the available coping response as being less effective than did controls; behavioral measures indicated generally lower propensity to cope among the nonparanoid Ss; the paranoid Ss were similar to controls on selected coping-propensity measures. These differences remained constant across episodic and remitted stages of illness. Psychophysiological evidence of stress arousal (heart-rate acceleration) indicated elevated responsivity specifically among the episodic patients. Results were discussed in terms of current formulations concerning vulnerability to schizophrenic episodes and efforts to cope with environmental stressors. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Premorbid adjustment and paranoid-nonparanoid status in schizophrenia: A further investigation.

Investigated the interrelations between premorbid social competence, role orientation as expressed in symptomatology, and paranoid-nonparanoid status in 295 Veterans Administration (VA) hospital and 300 state hospital male schizophrenic patients. Among state hospital paranoid schizophrenics, paranoids had higher premorbid social competence scores (Phillips-Zigler Social Competence Index) than nonparanoids. For VA hospital schizophrenics, paranoid-nonparanoid status was unrelated to premorbid social competence. State hospital patients had lower premorbid competence scores and a higher incidence of nonparanoid diagnosis than VA hospital patients. The prevalence of a number of symptoms also differed between the 2 hospitals. The role orientation symptom pictures differed both for hospitals and for paranoid and nonparanoid status. The relationships between role orientation, paranoid-nonparanoid status, and premorbid social competence are discussed within a developmental framework. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impairment in abstract responses of schizophrenics, neurotics, and brain-damaged patients

Attempted to identify a deficit in information input that may be specific to schizophrenia. The Ss were 60 male 19–58 yr old veterans representing 5 groups of 12 each: normals, neurotics, paranoid schizophrenics, nonparanoid schizophrenics, and brain-damaged patients. In the present and previous studies scores on single- and multiple-proverbs tests were analyzed to show effects of stimulus enrichment and practice gain in identifying this deficit. Previous studies differentiate normals and schizophrenics, demonstrate the deficit over a range of schizophrenic severity, and show that the deficit is independent of general loss of competence. Results of the present study indicate that the deficit is present over the paranoid–nonparanoid continuum; that it is absent in normals, neurotics, and brain-damaged patients; and that it is not a function of such intellectual factors as education and vocabulary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Same–different judgments in paranoid and schizophrenic patients: A laterality study.

12 normal, 12 paranoid, and 12 nonparanoid schizophrenic Ss were presented with arrays of stimuli to the left, right, or both hemispheres and told to say whether all the stimuli in the array were the same or different. Results fail to confirm the hypothesis that there is a dysfunction of hemispheric operation in paranoid or nonparanoid schizophrenia. There was, however, some evidence that paranoid patients scanned more than did nonparanoid or control Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the SADS—C as a diagnostic and symptom severity measure.

Examined the reliability of an abbreviated form of the full Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS), the SADS—C, in 2 studies. A total of 120 nonparanoid and paranoid schizophrenic, bipolar manic, and unipolar depressed patients and 26 normal Ss (mean age for all groups 31.8 yrs) were interviewed using the SADS—C and a number of other diagnostic instruments. Results of both studies suggest that the SADS—C is a reliable brief rating instrument capable of differentiating among psychopathological groups. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fluid and rigid boundaries of paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics on a role-playing task

The concepts of fluid and rigid boundaries were assessed in an improvisational role-playing task in an attempt to differentiate paranoid from nonparanoid schizophrenics. Thirty-one schizophrenic patients divided into paranoid, intermediate, and nonparanoid groups were given an improvisational role-playing task. The resulting scenes were analyzed by Fluid Boundary and Rigid Boundary scales, which were developed on the basis of specific aspects of the physical and verbal representations of characters, objects, and settings. The hypothesis that variations in the disruption or emphasis of representational boundaries differentiate paranoid and nonparanoid symptomatology received support. Paranoid schizophrenics scored higher on the Rigid Boundary scale, i.e erecting and/or exaggerating physical and interpersonal boundaries; and nonparanoid schizophrenics scored higher on Fluid Boundary scale, i.e. showing fused and fluid representations of characters, objects, and settings. Improvisational role-playing seems to hold promise as a medium with diagnostic value.     

Is paranoid status prognostic of good outcomes? It depends.

Better outcomes for psychiatric inpatients classified as paranoid rather than nonparanoid could be due to group differences in disability levels created by traditional classification approaches. Paranoid functioning, per se, may not predict good institutional outcomes. The authors retrieved community outcome data for 469 inpatients form 19 wards, a subsample of participants that had been previously examined during their inpatient stay. Paranoid groups showed better community outcomes as an artifact of differences in disability levels when classifications were based on the traditional approach that requires a predominance of paranoid over nonparanoid behavior. No differential outcomes appeared when classifications were based on dimensionally measured paranoid functioning alone. In fact, dispositions of patients suggest that staff view paranoid behavior as a negative rather than positive prognostic indicator. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Premorbid adjustment and paranoid-nonparanoid status in schizophrenia.

Using 98 schizophrenics, good premorbids were found to be evenly distributed regarding paranoid vs. nonparanoid symptomatology. Poor premorbids were predominantly nonparanoid and rarely paranoid. However, paranoids were predominantly good premorbids, whereas nonparanoids were distributed between good and poor premorbids. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representational boundaries in role portrayals among paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenic patients.

Studied the boundary properties of self and other representations in 31 normal Ss (mean age 18.8 yrs) and in 18 paranoid (mean age 21.2 yrs), 14 intermediate (mean age 21.9 yrs), and 16 nonparanoid (mean age 22.1 yrs) inpatient schizophrenics, using a dramatic role-playing technique. Role test and Rorschach responses were scored for presence of fluid and rigid boundaries between representations of human characters. Paranoid schizophrenics evidenced higher levels of rigid boundaries, nonparanoid schizophrenics had higher levels of fluid boundaries, and normal Ss showed fewer fluid or rigid boundaries. Rorschach and role test measures of boundary disruption were significantly correlated with each other and with other measures of psychopathology. Findings suggest that the relative balance between fluid and rigid representational boundaries is an effective discriminator of paranoid and nonparanoid subtypes and that the presence of either type of boundary imagery discriminates schizophrenics from normal Ss. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disappearance of paranoid symptoms with chronicity.

Investigated the finding of a reduced proportion of paranoids in chronic samples. Whether this change is due to the disappearance of paranoid patients or of paranoid symptomatology is unclear. Data from 50 multi-admitted paranoid schizophrenics firmly support the notion that paranoid symptomatology disappears. Although half of the patients remained paranoid across 10 yrs of illness, the other half changed to nonparanoid status around the 3rd hospitalization and about 6 yrs after 1st admission. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Magical ideation and schizophrenia.

The Eckblad and Chapman (1983) Magical Ideation Scale was administered to groups of paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics and control subjects. Schizophrenics were found to score significantly higher than nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients (mainly cases of affective disorder) and normal control subjects. The potential theoretical and prognostic utility of this finding is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduced range of sensory sensitivity in chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics.

Used a forced-choice auditory signal-detection method to test the hypothesis that, compared to acute paranoid schizophrenics, chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics would show a restricted range of sensitivity to environmental cues. 40 male chronic nonparanoid and paranoid schizophrenics served as Ss. Ability to detect the presence of an auditory cue, while concurrently tracking a visual stimulus, was measured under 2 conditions, auditory monitoring being given primary or secondary importance. In this task, a narrowed range of sensitivity implies a greater deficit in ability to detect the auditory cue when the primary focus is placed elsewhere. This deficit was significantly greater in the chronics in both initial and replication experiments. The function of restricted sensitivity in limiting the range of both relevant and distracting stimuli that are responded to by chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity and schizophrenia: An equivalence of cognitive processing.

Two tests of creativity were given to 10 paranoid and 10 nonparanoid schizophrenics, 10 nonpsychotic psychiatric controls, and 10 normal Ss. Ss were aged between 18 and 50 yrs. Scores on vocabulary and similarities tests, as well as education, medication, marital status, socioeconomic background, and age, were examined. Results indicate that nonparanoid schizophrenics were significantly more creative than paranoids and psychiatric controls on one creativity measure, a graded level measure of the Alternate Uses Test. Also, nonparanoid schizophrenics produced a significantly higher percentage of "highly creative" responses than did normals. Nonparanoid schizophrenics also scored higher than the other groups on the Welsh Figure Preference Test, but this finding was found to be related to age rather than to schizophrenia. The superior performance of the nonparanoid schizophrenic is discussed in terms of the encouragement that a supportive, nonjudgmental testing environment provides. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An event-related brain potential substrate of disturbed response monitoring in paranoid schizophrenic patients.

Response monitoring in schizophrenic patients and healthy controls was assessed by measuring performance and event-related brain potentials in the flanker priming task. Three visual-context conditions were construed: Flankers and targets pointed either into the same direction or into different directions. Stimuli without any response assignment were used as flankers in the neutral context condition. The schizophrenic patients were further subdivided into paranoid (n?=?19) and nonparanoid (n?=?10) patients and compared with healthy controls (n?=?18). Performance scores revealed that the flankers induced a similar degree of distraction by visual context in all 3 groups. Although the schizophrenic patients showed normal error correction performance, the error negativity (NE) was significantly reduced in paranoid schizophrenic patients. The attenuation of the NE possibly reflects disturbed response monitoring in these patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaction time, distractibility, and overinclusive thinking in psychotics.

Fifteen paranoid schizophrenics, 15 nonparanoid schizophrenics, and 15 nonschizophrenic psychiatric inpatients were given 3 of Babcock's tests of psychomotor retardation, and a test of overinclusive thinking based on Benjamin's proverbs. In addition, they took part in a simple and multiple-choice auditory reactiontime experiment in which the presence and number of distracting stimuli were varied. As predicted, the reaction times of the overinclusive patients were initially significantly slower. Overinclusive patients were also significantly more affected by the distraction, presumably because they are less able to filter out these irrelevant stimuli. A similar performance characterized those diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, as contrasted to those with other diagnoses, probably because of the significant relationship between paranoia and overinclusive thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age on first hospitalization of schizophrenics: A developmental approach.

Compared ages at 1st hospitalization of 3 groups of schizophrenics: 64 males in a VA hospital and 60 male and 60 female patients in a state hospital. Paranoid Ss were approximately 8 yrs older when first admitted than the nonparanoids. In both diagnostic categories males were hospitalized about 5 yrs earlier than females. Working females with a diagnosis of paranoia were hospitalized approximately 10 yrs later than the paranoid females who remained at home and the nonparanoid females of either employment status. State hospital males were younger on 1st admission than VA hospital males. The ages of the 2 diagnostic groups in the VA were comparable, whereas in the state hospital the nonparanoid group was younger than the paranoid group by about 8 yrs. The need to pay greater attention to the differences between schizophrenic males and females and to scrutinize more closely differences between state and VA hospital patients is emphasized. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenia and the scanning cognitive control: A reevaluation.

In recent studies it has been inferred from performance on perceptual tasks, that paranoid schizophrenics showed extensive scanning and nonparanoid schizophrenics showed minimal scanning. Eye movements during free-search and size-judgment tasks were recorded for 14 paranoid and 14 nonparanoid schizophrenics, 14 psychotic depressives, and 14 control Ss. Medicated Ss showed lower eyemovement rate and fixation rate than nonmedicated Ss and controls, but there were no significant differences due to schizophrenia. There was a significant interaction between patient type and medication for size-judgment means, but all such differences were reduced to nonsignificance by training. Even after training, Ss showed greater variability in size judgments than controls. Results failed to support the notion of extensive or minimal scanning behavior of schizophrenics. Errors by the psychotic patients in making size judgments were not correlated with scanning behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)