[The ego/self experience of schizophrenic patients]

The self experience of schizophrenics (i.e. their ego-pathology) is conceptualized in a theoretical model of five basic dimensions of ego consciousness (identity, activity, demarcation, consistence/coherence, vitality). A systematic empirical study uses the Ego-pathology-Inventory (with 53 items, Interraterreliability Kappa 0.9, Retestreliability 0.65). The study population consists of 552 schizophrenics, 25 borderline personality disorders, 87 depressive disorders. Ego-pathology clearly differs the three diagnostic groups. Confirmatory factorial analysis allows to accept the theoretical model. Various external measurements correlate with ego pathology. Three empirical syndromes resulted from statistical search for data-structures. A series of arguments for validation of the concept allow the conclusion the the proposed ego pathology concept is a viable approach for empirically studying the experimental core of the schizophrenias.