Age disorientation in chronic schizophrenia: the nature of the cognitive deficit

In an interview survey of temporal orientation in chronic schizophrenia, patients with age disorientation (n = 77) were much less likely than patients without age disorientation (n = 222) to be able to give correct answers to simple questions about dates and the passage of time (e.g. their date of birth, the present year and the duration of their hospital stay). The age disorientated systematically under-estimate the present year and their duration of hospital stay; in individual patients the errors they make are consistent with their concept of their own age. "Time stands still" for these patients. However, there are patients in whom an incorrect appreciation of their own age co-exists with correct awareness of the present year. Between these patients and those for whom subjective time stands still, there appears to be a continuum of increasing temporal disorientation. This dimension may be a clinical correlate of intellectual impairment.