The authors assessed bizarre verbalizations elicited from 37
schizophrenic and 16 nonschizophrenic patients. Interviews with subjects
indicated that much bizarre schizophrenic language results from patients
intermingling material from past and current experiences into their
verbalizations. This intermingled material comes from many different
problem areas rather than one central emotional complex. It does not arise
from emotional overresponsiveness, overinvolved thinking, or delusional
ideation. Two factors hypothesized as responsible for bizarre schizophrenic
language are the schizophrenic's monitoring problems and difficulty
maintaining perspective about his own behavior.
Abstract Teaser