Schizophrenic Process Research Articles

B-Mitten EEG pattern and process and reactive schizophrenia. A replication.

Based on degree of premorbid asociality, hospitalized schizophrenics were divided into process and reactive subgroups which are statistically equated on the variables of intelligence, chronicity, degree of drug-free state at time of EEG, and total amount of sleep EEG recording obtained. The B-mitten EEG pattern is significantly related to reactive schizophrenia for all subjects combined and for males and females considered separately. Among nonschizophrenic patients the relationship of mitten patterns to reactive premorbid history did not occur. There were no differences between reactive and process schizophrenics in terms of abnormal EEGs when mitten patterns were omitted from consideration. Reliability of diagnosis, process-reactive categorization, and interpretation of the mitten pattern was assessed and found to be highly significant.

Phenothiazine effects on auditory signal detection in paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics.

The differential effects of phenothiazine medication on auditory signal detection performance were compared in two types of schizophrenic subjects and in normal subjects. With increasing phenothiazine dosage a decrease in efficiency of signal detection performance occurred among nonparanoid schizophrenics and an increase in efficiency occurred among paranoid schizophrenics. These and related findings were interpreted in terms of differences in neuropsychological response and information processing characteristics in the two types of schizophrenics. The primary deficit in information processing in nonparanoid schizophrenics may be related primarily to their hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli, whereas in paranoids it may be related primarily to their impaired focusing of attention. Phenothiazines appear to decrease sensitivity to stimuli in nonparanoids but increase the ability to focus attention in paranoids. The possibility of treatment regimens which take into account the differential effects of phenothiazine medication was suggested.

Cognitive structure and pathology in associations of process and reactive schizophrenics.

Cognitive structure and pathology in associations of process and reactive schizophrenics.

Social schemata of process and reactive schizophrenics.

Three groups—47 process schizophrenics, 15 reactive schizophrenics, and 60 non-schizophrenics—were compared on two variants of the Kuethe social schemata technique. It was hypothesized that process schizophrenics would be more distant in their construction and reconstruction of human figures on a field than reactive schizophrenics.

Detection of psychotomimetic N,N-dimethylated indoleamines in the urine of four schizophrenic patients.

Pollin, Cardon and Kety (18) investigated the effects of large doses of various amino acids in combination with a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor on the behaviour of schizophrenics. They found that methionine in the presence of such an inhibitor was capable of producing behavioural changes which may ‘represent a biochemically induced acute flare-up of a chronic schizophrenic process on the one hand, or a toxic delirium superimposed upon chronic schizophrenia on the other’. Brune and Himwich (8) confirmed the clinical results of Pollin et al. On the basis of their previous work indicating that tryptamine appeared in increased concentrations in the urine before and during the activation of psychotic symptoms, they suggested that under loading conditions the formation of various N,N-dimethylated indoleamines might be facilitated in the body. The tertiary indoleamines so formed might mediate the psychotic effect of methionine with a MAO inhibitor on schizophrenic patients.

Schizophrenia and interference. An analogy with a malfunctioning computer.

THE SUBJECT of schizophrenia is responsible for a fast growing but increasingly indigestible mass of clinical descriptions and experiments. Many of these data are valuable, but some conceptual scheme for ordering and organizing these observations would be helpful. The obvious parallels between human thought processes and computer programs have inspired some useful models; thus, I was led to explore a computer analogy for schizophrenic thought-process disorder. Some years ago, before phenothiazines, a fire broke out on the back ward of a state hospital. Most of the patients were hallucinated, chronic, process schizophrenics. However, they quickly queued up and marched out as sane as you please. Mannerisms, responses to hallucinations, and other gross signs of disorder vanished until after they reached the safety of the yard; then things returned to normal, or, in this case, to abnormal. With such a clear

Male drug addiction and the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement.

The present study attempted to evaluate the usefulness of the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA) for assessing the degree of character disturbance in drug addicts. The KTSA and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) were administered to 40 addicts at the drug unit of the New Jersey Neuro-psychiatric Institute over a 2-mo. period. Evaluation of both semi-objective variables tapping cognitive-associative functioning and objective factors assessing more dynamic features was made. The composite symbol pattern for 40 Ss showed a close correspondence with that determined by past research for “character and behavior disorder” and the resulting diagnosis indicated little discrepancy from that obtained through psychiatric interviewing. The more clinical features of the KTSA generally support the diagnosis of characterological disturbance. In several cases it was felt that neurosis (obsessive-compulsive) and underlying schizophrenic process were more appropriate diagnoses. However, both quantitative and qualitative examination of KTSA performance showed consistently strong trends typically found in most drug addicts.

Perceived maternal nurturance and control of process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, and normals.

Perceived maternal nurturance and control of process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, and normals.

Language Behavior in Schizophrenia.

This collection of 13 papers is supposed to provide "a representative sample of current works on schizophrenic language behavior," to exemplify "encouraging signs of an early end to professional isolation" in the study of psychopathological language, and to present in tandem theoretical papers and research reports. This book, however, achieves much less than it promises. The three experimental works included reflect the trend generated by learning theories; ie, schizophrenics' error tendency (Chapman), associative interference (Spence and Lair), and speech manipulated by operant technique (Salzinger et al). The fourth experimental paper (Eliseo) is a replication of Chapman's above work using process and reactive schizophrenics as subjects. The development of classification systems for analyses of the patients' free speech (Laffal), vocabulary definitions (Richman), and gibberish (Robertson and Shamsie) is also included and could be regarded as another trend in the field. Few people would object to the

Towards a More Complex Formulation of Rod-and Frame Performance in the Schizophrenias

An alternative to the “perceptual differentiation hypothesis” of rod-and-frame test (RFT) performance is necessary to explain low-error RFT scores among process schizophrenics (Sugerman & Cancro, 1968). Data are presented which suggest that schizophrenic Ss achieve low-error scores by minimally scanning background RFT cues rather than by differentiation of figure and background stimuli.

Manifestations of the schizophrenic process in figure drawings of adolescents.

RECENT literature abounds with studies claiming both the validity and invalidity of the use of figure drawings in differential diagnosis. Extensive summaries may be found in Swenson,¹Zimmer,²Sloan,³and Heidgerd.⁴Most studies tend to cast doubt on its merit, but a few studies do support the clinicians contention that empirically, "it works." Generally it has been found that sign approaches, are superior to clinical judgments based on the overall impression gained from the drawing. The two approaches are exemplified by a study of Goldstein and Rawn.⁵They investigated the "effects of experimentally induced feelings of aggression, interpolated between two figure drawings." They found that there was a significant increase in specific signs interpreted as representing aggression. However, the subjective judgments of aggression by judges did not significantly differentiate between the control and experimental groups. It

Avoidance of Censure by Process and Reactive Schizophrenics as a Function of Examiner'S Sex and Type of Task

Avoidance of Censure by Process and Reactive Schizophrenics as a Function of Examiner'S Sex and Type of Task

Schizophrenic thought process: analysis of the WAIS.

Differences in performance on the WAIS for schizophrenics classified as active or in remission are described.

New-word coinage in the psychopathological context.

In a review of problems and issues pertaining to neologisms in psychopathological language behavior, it was suggested that phonological blendings, nonsense words, portmanteau expressions, examples of the use of one part of speech for another (e.g., a noun for a verb), and foreignizations be distinguished from genuine new-word coinage. Critical examination of the systems of classification of neologisms proposed by earlier writers led to the formulation of a classification schema that includes the following types of neologistic contructions: (1) new-word creation; (2) verbal paraphasia; and (3) severe agrammatism. The paper concludes with a strong plea for the collaborative participation of the linguist, psycholinguist, and psychopathologist in the systematic investigation of neologisms and the processes which produce them. Among the problems singled out for immediate attention are the comparative incidence of neologisms in process and reactive schizophrenics and the functional properties of the neologism as a verbal free operant.

Atypical leukocyte pattern of schizophrenic children.

THERE ARE in the literature reports of investigations of the leukocytes in the peripheral blood of adult schizophrenic patients. 1-6 Fessel and Hirata-Hibi 2 described three types of abnormal leukocytes which they felt were related to the disease. How ever, Fieve et al 6 have suggested that atypical lymphocytes are probably a phenothiazine drug effect, and not a function of the schizophrenic process. During the past three years, the author has prepared and examined blood smears from schizophrenic children, some of whom had received phenothiazine drugs. The purposes of this paper are as follows: (1) to report the finding and frequency of several types of atypical leukocytes in the peripheral blood of children diagnosed as schizophrenic; (2) to report the frequency of these atypical leukocytes in the peripheral blood of schizophrenic children under continuous treatment with phenothiazine drugs; (3) to show the

Classification and outcome in process-reactive schizophrenia

Summary Three separate means of classifying patients into process and reactive schizophrenia were utilized on 51 consecutive male, drug free, admissions. While there was considerable overlap between them, the premorbid autism as measured on the Phillips scale was the only schema studied that predicted both short- and long-term outcome. Long-term outcome was predicted almost equally well by the long neglected Parts II and III of the Phillips scale. The suggestion is made that further study and explication of premorbid autism as well as greater attention to the presenting signs would prove of value in improving predictions of outcome. Process schizophrenics emerged as patients who tend to show: premorbid autism, an insidious onset, Bleuler's fundamental signs and a poor prognosis. The picture of reactive schizophrenia was just the opposite.

The relative incidence of the B-mitten EEG pattern in process and reactive schizophrenia

The earlier tenous association between “B-mitten” EEG discharges and schizophrenia is strengthened by greater definition and specification of the nature of this association. Schizophrenics were subdivided according to the process-reactive distinction and the B-mitten sleep pattern was found to occur in a significantly greater proportion of reactive schizophrenics than process schizophrenics.

Visual interaction and perfrmance of process and reactive schizophrenics as a function of examiner's sex.

Visual interaction and perfrmance of process and reactive schizophrenics as a function of examiner's sex.

Abnormalities in siblings of schizophrenic children.

In 209 families with schizophrenic children, 18 families with more than one abnormal child were found. Among the parents of this group there was a high incidence of marital discord, schizoid personalities and different forms of schizophrenia. Among the siblings mental defect, speech delay, and schizophrenia were found. Because of the high incidence of the children in this group functioning on a mentally defective level, special attention was paid to the problem of the intellectual function of all family members. Twenty-four (40%) of the 60 children in these 18 families studied presented a picture of intellectual defects along with schizophrenic process. In three (5%) mental defect was found without typical symptoms of childhood schizophrenia. None of the parents were found to be mentally defective and only one was found to be of borderline intelligence. Twenty (55%) parents were of normal intelligence and 15 (42%) were bright normal to superior, while the corresponding figures for the children were 22 (36.6%) and six (10%). There were only four children whose intellectual function improved while there were 16 who deteriorated considerably. There was an unexplained finding of an unusually high number of twins among the 18 families. We found five pairs of twins. Two pairs were monozygotic, concordant for schizophrenia. Two pairs were dizygotic, discordant for schizophrenia. One of the fifth pair died early; the second was mentally defective.

Reactive and Process Schizophrenia.

The authors are undertaking two tasks in this book. One is to elucidate schizophrenia on a continuum from process to reactive, with the process schizophrenics as the most pathologic and the reactive as the most nearly integrated. The other is to interpret this mental disorder within the context of existentialist theory. They conducted research in which the population sample consisted of 238 "Caucasian" patients in a Veteran's Administration hospital. On their etiological assumption that failure to progress developmentally reflects itself in schizophrenia, and that the schizophrenic continuum breaks down into five stages of severity, their "experiment proposes to distribute the schizophrenics along the five step continuum of social maturity." For their method of study they used the Rorschach inkblots and a health-sickness scale, on which each patient's position was judged from his case history. Two clinically experienced persons did the judging in each case; psychiatric diagnoses were derived