Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:26:58.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paranoid and Withdrawal Symptoms in Schizophrenia: Relationship to Reaction Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Solomon C. Goldberg ,
Nina R. Schooler  and
Nils Mattsson
Solomon C. Goldberg
Affiliation:
Clinical Studies Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 5454, Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, Maryland 2023, U.S.A.
Nina R. Schooler
Affiliation:
Clinical Studies Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 5454, Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, Maryland 2023, U.S.A.
Nils Mattsson
Affiliation:
Clinical Studies Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 5454, Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, Maryland 2023, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

There is a large body of research that has established change in reaction time as one of the major psychological performance deficits in schizophrenia (Shakow, 1963). In addition to consistent differences between patients and normals, relationships have been reported (Rosenthal, Lawlor, Zahn and Shakow, 1960) between general severity of illness and reaction time within a group of chronic schizophrenics. More recently, Zahn and Rosenthal (1963) have shown that acute schizophrenics also perform deficiently in reaction time; they hold an intermediate position between normal subjects and chronic schizophrenic patients. Shakow (1963) reports that in some of the earlier work with chronic patients “paranoids” tended to show little, if any, reaction time deficit, but that it was the hebephrenic patients who performed poorly. Thus it seems unlikely that reaction time is a general measure of deficit in schizophrenia, since available evidence shows it to be related to chronicity (in terms of duration of illness), general severity of illness, and schizophrenic subtype. The deficit reflected in reaction time has been characterized by Shakow (1963) in terms of associative interference. That is, the schizophrenic is distracted by “irrelevant aspects of the stimulus surroundings—inner and outer—which prevent his focusing on the ‘to-be-responded-to’ stimulus”.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 114 , Issue 514 , September 1968 , pp. 1161 - 1165
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1968 

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

Burdock, E. I., Hakerem, G., Hardesty, Anne S., and Zubin, J. (1960). “A ward behavior rating scale for mental patients” J. clin. Psychol., 16, 246–247.3.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, S. C., Cole, J. O., and Clyde, D. J. (1963). “Factor analyses of ratings of schizophrenic behavior” Psychopharmacology Service Center Bulletin, 2, 28–38.Google Scholar
Kellam, S. G., Goldberg, S. C., Schooler, Nina R., Berman, , Audrey, , and Shmelzer, June L. (1967). “Ward atmosphere and outcome of treatment of acute schizophrenia” J. psychiat. Res. 5, 145–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lorr, M., Klett, C. J., McNair, D. M., and Lasky, J. J. (1963). In-Patient Multi-Dimensional Psychiatric Scale (Manual). Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
NIMH-PRB Collaborative Study Group (1967). “Clinical effects of three phenothiazines in acute schizophrenia” Dis. Nerv. Syst., 28, 369–383.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, D., Lawlor, W. G., Zahn, T. P., and Shakow, D. (1960). “The relationship of some aspects of mental set to degree of schizophrenic disorganization. J. Personality, 28, 26–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shakow, D. (1963). “Psychological deficit in schizophrenia” Behav. Science, 8, 275–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverman, J. (1964). “The scanning control mechanism and ‘cognitive’ filtering in paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenia” J. consult. Psychol., 28, 385–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverman, J. (1968). “Variations in cognitive control and psychophysiological defense in the schizophrenias” Psychosom. Med. (In press.) Google Scholar
Venables, P. H., and O'Connor, N. (1959). “A short scale for rating paranoid schizophrenia” J. ment. Sci., 105, 815–818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Venables, P. H., and Wing, J. K. (1962). “Level of arousal and the subclassification of schizophrenia” Arch. gen. Psychiat., 7, 114–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahn, T. P., and Rosenthal, D. (1963). “Preparatory set in acute schizophrenia” Presented at meetings of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.