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Some cognitive correlates of schizophrenic illnesses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Graham Robertson  and
Pamela J. Taylor
Graham Robertson*
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Pamela J. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr Graham Robertson, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
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Synopsis

A battery of tests was developed to assess verbal, non-verbal and mixed cognitive functions. Interest was based on pattern of response rather than absolute scores. The subjects were 167 men held in prison on criminal charges or in a maximum security hospital after conviction. The present paper deals exclusively with two subgroups: the 61 schizophrenic men and the 41 men with no psychiatric disorder. The schizophrenic group as a whole presented a very different cognitive pattern from the ‘normal’ men. First, with the exception of the vocabulary subtest of the WAIS, the schizophrenics were inferior on all tests, whether verbal, non-verbal or mixed function. Secondly, they showed considerably more variation within subtests. The schizophrenic sample was therefore subdivided into four clinical groups. Each showed a distinctive cognitive profile. It is argued that these cognitive differences reflect real differences in the disorder and type of illness being experienced by members of these subgroups.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1985 , pp. 81 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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