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Exploring schizophrenic thinking in older adolescents with the WAIS, Rorschach and WIST
Journal of Clinical Psychology
|April 1, 1982
Summary
Diagnosing adolescent schizophrenia is challenging, but expert clinicians accurately identified schizophrenic thinking in adolescents using specific tests. This suggests schizophrenic thinking is not inherent to adolescence and the WIST test aids diagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Adolescent Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Adolescent mental disorder diagnosis is considered difficult.
- Schizophrenic thinking is often presumed to be characteristic of adolescents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of expert clinicians in identifying schizophrenic thinking in adolescents.
- To determine if schizophrenic thinking is an inherent characteristic of adolescence.
Main Methods:
- 10 expert clinicians evaluated responses from the Rorschach, WAIS, and WIST.
- Evaluations were conducted on 12 adolescents aged 16-19.
- Participants included schizophrenic, non-schizophrenic hospitalized, and normal control groups.
Main Results:
- Expert clinicians demonstrated surprisingly accurate discrimination among the three groups.
- Schizophrenic thinking was not universally characteristic of the adolescent sample.
- The WIST (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) provided helpful information for identification.
Conclusions:
- Adolescent schizophrenia can be diagnosed with accuracy by expert clinicians.
- Schizophrenic thinking is not an inherent trait of all adolescents.
- The WIST shows potential as a diagnostic tool for identifying schizophrenic adolescents.