Schizophrenic "Thought Disorders" After the Acute Phase
MARTIN HARROW PH.D.1,
GARY TUCKER M.D.2,
JONATHAN HIMMELHOCH M.D.3, , and
NICHOLAS PUTNAM JR. 4
1 Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. 06510
2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. 06510
4 Student at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine
Two studies investigated whether schizophrenic thought disorders persist past the most acute stage of disturbance. An object sorting test was administered to 91 acute patients at two time periods and also to 31 chronic schizophrenics. The results indicate that: 1) as schizophrenic patients begin to enter into clinical remission, many indices of thought disorder diminish, and 2) contrary to the interpretations of some investigators, chronic schizophrenics show many features of overinclusive thinking and of thought disturbance.
