Communicability and Thought Disorder in Schizophrenics and Other Diagnostic Groups

Abstract

To evaluate qualitative differences in the nature of thought disorder, the 'cloze' procedure and the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication were used to compare speech samples from schizophrenic, depressive, manic, schizo-affective and normal subjects at two different times. At the acute phase, thought-disordered subjects (schizophrenics, manics and schizo-affectives) were less communicable than non-thought-disordered subjects (depressives and normals). Communicability increased with remission of the more flagrant features of disturbance. Comparison of the thought-disordered diagnostic groups in the rate and pattern of remission of specific features of thought disorder indicated that factors reflecting goal-disrupted cognition distinguished the groups.

Linguistic Analysis of the Speech Output of Schizophrenic, Bipolar, and Depressive Patients

“…Cohesion is associated with the lexicogrammatical system (i.e., grammar and vocabulary), and five major types of cohesive ties have been identified: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion. Ragin and Oltmanns [16,17] assessed lexical cohesion in three groups of thought-disordered patients: patients with schizophrenia, mania or schizoaffective disorder. The experiment was set up in such a way that the between-and within-clause cohesion could be assessed during the acute stage of the illness as well as during the following phase of remission.…”

Investigación del Trastorno Formal del Pensamiento en la esquizofrenia: una mirada crítica

“…En esta aproximación el TFP ha sido redefmido como un déficit del hablante para generar cohesión en el discurso (90,91,13). El procedimiento consiste en la grabación y transcripción del habla del paciente, y la cuantificación del tipo de vínculos cohesivos utilisados en el texto.…”

Exploring a multifactorial, clinical model of thought disorder : application of a dimensional, transdiagnostic approach.

“…However, inconsistent evidence has also been reported, with several studies finding greater tangentiality, looseness, and illogicality in schizophrenia compared to mania (Cuesta & Peralta, 1993;Jampala et al, 1989;Ragin & Oltmanns, 1987). Schizoaffective patients were included in only two studies, both of which evidenced thought disorder profiles comparable to manic patients (Andreasen & Grove, 1986;Ragin & Oltmanns, 1987).…”

“…The presence of negative thought disorder has been evidenced in patients with primary depression, although overall TLC severity tends to be considerably lower than that of schizophrenia and mania (Andreasen, 1979b;Ragin & Oltmanns, 1987;Wilcox et al, 2000). Further, patients diagnosed with psychotic depression tend to exhibit significantly greater alogia, poverty of content, blocking, and perseveration than their non-psychotic counterparts (Wilcox et al, 2000).…”

“…Schizoaffective patients were included in only two studies, both of which evidenced thought disorder profiles comparable to manic patients (Andreasen & Grove, 1986;Ragin & Oltmanns, 1987). Examining differences by schizophrenia subtype, Andreasen and Grove (1986) reported a significantly higher prevalence of poverty of speech content in patients with hebephrenic versus paranoid schizophrenia (Andreasen & Grove, 1986).…”