Posthypnotic amnesia and the cognitive efficiency of schizophrenics.

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between posthypnotic amnesia and cognitive efficiency among schizophrenic Ss was explored by analyzing the occurrence of reversible, nonreversible, and fail amnesia in a sample of 54 schizophrenic Ss who were additionally classifed reliably for the phases of awareness experienced by them at the time of assessment. Cognitive efficiency was measured in the waking state predominantly by the application of tests of memory function, and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A (SHSS:A) of Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard (1959) was adopted to measure Ss' level of hypnotizability, results being analyzed in detail for SHSS:A's amnesia item. Data demonstrated that Ss' phase of awareness was related to Ss' overall level of susceptibility and that low cognitive efficiency and poor memory function were directly related to nonreversible amnesia, but that especially poor waking memory was not involved in the development of posthypnotic amnesia in the schizophrenic population. Results for Ss' phases of awareness that reflected their differing levels of contact with social reality yielded anomalies in the data which suggested that the amnesia task on SHSS:A does not provide optimal conditions of assessment for the measurement of amnesia in schizophrenic Ss.