Modified Completion Test (MCT) in Psychological Diagnostics of Patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia — Stage of Filling the Gaps

Abstract

IntroductionThe study demonstrates potential of the modified completion test (MCT) (text by H. Ebbinghaus) for diagnostics of patients with schizophrenia. MCT includes four stages: 1) filling the gaps in the story; 2) reading and retelling; 3) making up a continuation and a title; 4) retelling the story and its continuation after half an hour (Burlakova,2020).ObjectivesThe objective was to research diagnostical potential of the first stage of MCT for patients suffering from paranoid schizophrenia with hallucinatory syndrome.MethodsThe study included 42 patients (28 female, 14 male) with schizophrenia (disease onset at least 5–7 years ago), aged from 19 to 51 (average age 35±8), receiving treatment. Control group consisted of 44 people (average age 37±6), never sought psychiatric help, never diagnosed with any mental disorders. Groups were organized to be equal in gender proportions, age, and educational level.ResultsThe psychiatric patients in comparison to the control group: 1) accomplished the task slower; 2) although instructed to fill the gaps in succession, often violated the instruction and demonstrated orientation on specific fragments rather than on the whole; 3) had lower efficiency: ˜5% of the clinical group did the task without mistakes; 4) chose strategies of interacting with the text not detected in the control group: a) did not fill several gaps, b) added words outside the gaps, and c) crossed out fragments of the text; 5) filled the gaps with words inadequate emotionally, semantically and/or logically.ConclusionsComparative analysis demonstrated that already on the first stage, the method proves informative in pathopsychological assessment.DisclosureNo significant relationships.