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Updated: May 30, 2026
08:42
Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression
Published on: May 19, 2015
Testing the hypothesis that formal thought disorders are severe mood disorders
Manuel J Cuesta1, Victor Peralta
1Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. mcuestaz@cfnavarra.es
Schizophrenia Bulletin
|August 23, 2011
Summary
Formal Thought Disorder (FTD) is multidimensional, with disorganization as a key component. While distractibility is linked to FTD, it is not solely explained by mania-related attentional issues.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- A recent hypothesis suggested Formal Thought Disorder (FTD) could be explained by bipolar disorder.
- This study investigated the underlying dimensions of FTD and its relationship with specific clinical factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the dimensions of Formal Thought Disorder (FTD).
- To determine the extent to which FTD factors are associated with clinical distractibility, attentional impairment, mania severity, and familial liability for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Main Methods:
- Assessed 660 inpatients using semistructured interviews.
- Utilized the Thought, Language, and Communication scale for FTD assessment.
- Employed the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and Family History-Research Diagnostic Criteria.
Main Results:
- FTD comprises at least five dimensions: disorganization, verbosity, poverty of speech, idiosyncratic thinking, and blocking.
- Clinical distractibility was associated with disorganization and blocking, but not verbosity.
- Attentional disturbance correlated with most FTD factors, independent of mania severity.
Conclusions:
- Disorganization emerged as the primary FTD dimension.
- Distractibility is a core FTD feature, but not exclusively explained by mania-related attention deficits.
- The hypothesis of a mutual interdependence between mania and attentional disturbance in causing FTD was not supported.
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