Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:57:30.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preserved reading and spelling ability in psychotic disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J. Thomas Dalby  and
Richard Williams
J. Thomas Dalby*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Calgary General Hospital and the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Calgary General Hospital and the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr J. Thomas Dalby, Department of Psychology, Calgary General Hospital, 841 Centre Avenue East, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2E 0A1.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Standard scores on tests of intelligence, memory and academic achievement were obtained from individuals with either schizophrenic spectrum disorders, mania, alcohol abuse, antisocial personality disorders or no mental disorder. The three cognitive measures were highly and positively correlated in three groups (normal controls, alcohol abusers and antisocial personality disorders), while in the schizophrenic spectrum and manic groups a pattern of average reading and spelling achievement was contrasted with lower intelligence and memory quotients. It was suggested that reading and spelling ability are more accurate predictors of premorbid ability in psychotic disorders than other psychometric scales. This parallels previous findings with organic dementias and raises questions about possible shared aetiological bases between dementias and psychoses.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , February 1986 , pp. 171 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980). DSM-III: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn). APA: Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C.,Olsen, S. A., Dernert, J. W. & Smith, M. R. (1982). Ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia: relationship to positive and negative symptoms. American Journal of Psychiatry 139, 297–302.Google ScholarPubMed
Aylward, E., Walker, E. & Bettes, B. (1984). Intelligence in schizophrenia: meta-analysis of the research. Schizophrenia Bulletin 10, 430–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Covin, T. M. & Lubimiv, A. J. (1976). Concurrent validity of the WRAT. Perceptual and Motor Skills 43, 573–574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crow, T. J. (1980). Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process? British Medical Journal 280, 66–68.Google Scholar
Jastak, J. F. & Jastak, S. (1978). The Wide Range Achievement Test. Jastak Associates: Wilmington, Delaware.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. D., Husband, J. & Kreel, L. (1976). Cerebral ventricular size and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Lancet ii, 924–926.Google Scholar
Kerry, R. J., McDermott, C. M. & Orme, J. E. (1983). Affective disorders and cognitive performance. Journal of Affective Disorders 5, 349–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kraepelin, E. (1919). Dementia Praecox and Paraphrenia. Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Nasrallah, H. A., Jacoby, C. G., MacCalley-Whitters, M. & Kuperman, S. (1982), Cerebral ventricular enlargement in subtypes of chronic schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 774–777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, H. E. & McKenna, P. (1975). The use of current reading ability in the assessment of dementia. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 14, 259–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, H. E. & O'Connell, A. (1978). Dementia: the estimation of premorbid intelligence levels using the new adult reading test. Cortex 14, 234–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reveley, A. M., Clifford, C. A. & Murray, R. M. (1982). Cerebral ventricular size in twins discordant for schizophrenia. Lancet ii, 540–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruddle, H. V. & Bradshaw, C. M. (1982). On the estimation of premorbid intellectual functioning: validation of Nelson and McKenna's formula and some new normative data. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 21, 159–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seidman, L. J. (1983). Schizophrenia and brain dysfunction: an integration of recent neurodiagnostic findings. Psychological Bulletin 94, 195–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, M. A. & Abrams, R. (1984). Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 141, 196–201.Google ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1945). A standardized memory scale for clinical use. Journal of Psychology 19, 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1981). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Revised. Psychological Corporation: New York.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Torrey, E. F., Neophytides, A. N. & Wyatt, R. J. (1979). Structural abnormalites in cerebral cortex of chronic schizophrenic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry 36, 935–939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A. O., Reveley, M. A., Kolakowska, T., Ardern, M. & Mandelbrote, B. M. (1985). Schizophrenia with good and poor outcome: II. Cerebral ventricular size and its clinical significance. British Journal of Psychiatry 146, 239–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed