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Loose associations and disordered speech patterns in chronic schizophrenia
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
|February 1, 1976
Summary
This study developed a reliable method to assess thought disorder in chronic schizophrenia patients. Hospitalized patients showed significantly more speech abnormalities, like paucity of speech, than community-dwelling patients, suggesting illness severity impacts verbalization.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Thought disorder is a core symptom of schizophrenia, impacting communication.
- Previous research has not fully quantified speech pattern differences between hospitalized and community-dwelling chronic schizophrenia patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a phenomenological scoring system for evaluating free speech in chronic schizophrenia.
- To compare speech patterns and thought disorder severity in hospitalized versus community-dwelling chronic schizophrenia patients.
Main Methods:
- Development of a reliable phenomenological scoring system for speech analysis.
- Comparison of speech patterns in two groups of 15 chronic schizophrenia patients each: one hospitalized, one community-dwelling.
- Assessment of specific speech categories including looseness of association, paucity of speech, perseveration, repetition, and deviant verbalizations.
Main Results:
- Severe looseness of association was not a prominent finding in either group.
- Multiyear hospitalized chronic schizophrenics scored significantly higher on paucity of speech, perseveration, repetition, and deviant verbalizations compared to community-dwelling patients.
- High degrees of perseveration and paucity of speech were generally observed, potentially indicating impoverished thinking.
Conclusions:
- The developed scoring system is reliable and useful for studying schizophrenia.
- Differences in speech patterns between hospitalized and community-dwelling patients suggest that illness severity is a significant factor.
- Paucity of speech and perseveration may be key indicators of impoverished thinking in chronic schizophrenia.