Anhedonia, perceptual aberration, and the Rorschach.

Abstract

College students who scored deviantly high on a scale of physical anhedonia or on a scale of perceptual aberration were compared with normal control subjects on the Rorschach Inkblot Test scored for the delta index of thought disorder and the alpha index of deviancy. The anhedonic subjects and perceptual aberration subjects gave more schizophreniclike Rorschach responses than the normal control subjects. This finding indicates the importance of follow-up studies to determine whether subjects who score deviantly high on these scales are at high risk for schizophrenia and/or other psychosis.This study attempts to provide preliminary indications of the validity of two scales as indices of psychosis proneness in young adults. These scales were designed to measure physical anhedonia, a long-term deficit in the capacity to experience pleasure (Chapman, Chapman, & Raul'in, 1976), and perceptual aberration, the experience of perceptual distortion of one's body and environment (Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin, 1978). The strategy is to look at these high scoring subjects for the kinds of deviancy that characterize schizophrenics and borderline schizophrenics. The reasoning is that such deviancy might indicate a proneness toward psychosis.There is abundant evidence that schizophrenics and borderline schizophrenics show both anhedonia (

Communication disturbances, working memory, and emotion in people with elevated disorganized schizotypy

“…The current research is the first study to our knowledge to examine disorganized speech in people with disorganized schizotypy. In some previous studies using the Rorschach, people with elevated positive schizotypy (specifically Perceptual Aberration) have been found to exhibit higher delta index scores (a forerunner of the Thought Disorder Index, TDI; Edell & Chapman, 1979) and higher TDI scores (Coleman et al, 1996). However, it has been argued that elevated scores on the TDI can reflect disturbances in speech content (e.g., discussion of unusual perceptions and unusual ideas; Berenbaum & Barch, 1995).…”

Social anhedonia as a predictor of the development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

“…In contrast to the present findings for the SocAnh Scale, Chapman et al (1994) reported that the PhyAnh Scale did not predict schizophrenia-spectrum disorders at a 10-year follow-up. However, numerous studies have reported cross-sectionally that participants identified by the PhyAnh Scale exhibit cognitive, social, and psychophysiological deficits similar to those seen in schizophrenic patients (e.g., Edell & Chapman, 1979;Haberman, Chapman, Numbers, & McFall, 1979;Miller, 1986;Simons, MacMillan, & Ireland, 1982). In addition, the New York High-Risk Project ( Erlenmeyer-Kimling et al, 1993;Freedman, Rock, Roberts, Cornblatt, & Erlenmeyer-Kimling, 1998) reported that high scores on the PhyAnh Scale are associated with poor social adjustment and with the development of psychosis in female participants.…”

Physical Anhedonia and Future Psychopathology: An Electrocortical Continuity?

“…In summary, data have now been reported which demonstrate that anhedonic undergraduate subjects differ from normal controls on a number of verbal report measures (Chapman et al, 1978), during projective testing (Edell & Chapman, 1979), and on specific behavior tests (Haberman et al, 1979). In conjunction with a previous report (Simons, 1981).…”

“…Recently, however. Chapman and his colleagues (Edell & Chapman, 1979;Chapman, Chapman, Raulin, & Edell, 1978;Haberman. Chapman, Numbers, .…”