Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:52:17.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Experimental Study of Pictures Produced by Acute Schizophrenic Subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Stephen Russell-Lacy ,
Victoria Robinson ,
Janet Benson  and
Janet Cranage
Stephen Russell-Lacy
Affiliation:
Salford Area Health Authority, Prestwich Hospital, Manchester
Victoria Robinson
Affiliation:
Darlington Memorial Hospital
Janet Benson
Affiliation:
Northern Regional Health Authority
Janet Cranage
Affiliation:
Northern Regional Health Authority
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of assessing pictures produced by acute schizophrenic subjects as a technique in differential diagnosis. It was hypothesized that art productions by schizophrenics differ from those both by other acute psychiatric patients and by ‘normals'. Coloured slides were made from pictures produced in standardized conditions by three samples each of thirty subjects. It was found that repetition of abstract forms was the only factor studied to be associated specifically with schizophrenia; whereas the presence of pictorial imbalance, overelaboration, childlike features, uncovered space, detail and colour variety were found to be associated with psychiatric admission irregardless of diagnosis. Doubt is cast on the use of art as a technique in differential psychiatric diagnosis.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 134 , Issue 2 , February 1979 , pp. 195 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979 

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

Anastasi, A. & Foley, J. Jnr. (1941) A survey of the literature on artistic behaviour in the abnormal: a historical and theoretical background. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 25, 111–42.Google Scholar
Anastasi, A. & Foley, J. Jnr. (1944) An experimental study of the drawing behaviour of adult psychotics in comparison with that of a control group. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 34 (3), 169–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, L. (1938) A Visual Motor Gestalt Test and its Clinical Use. Research Monographs No. 3. American Orthopsychiatric Association, N.Y. Google Scholar
Child, I. (1972) Aesthetics. Annual Review of Psychology, 23, 669–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fink, P., Levick, M. & Goldman, M. (1973) Art therapy: a diagnostic and therapeutic tool. International Journal of Psychiatry, 1, 104–18.Google Scholar
Klonfer, W. & Taulbee, E. (1976) Projective tests. Annual Review of Psychology, 27.Google Scholar
Levy, B. & Ulman, E. (1976) Judging psychopathology from paintings. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 72 (2), 182–7.Google Scholar
Mosse, E. (1940) Painting analysis in the treatment of neurosis. Psychoanalytic Review, 27, 65–82.Google Scholar
Naumberg, M. (1966) Dynamically Orientated Art Therapy: Its Principles and Practice. N.Y.: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Pickford, R. W. (1956) Psychological aspects of schizophrenic art. Scottish Medical Journal, 1, 6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prinzhorn, H. (1972) Artistry of the Mentally III: A Contribution to the Psychology and Psychopathology of Configuration. Berlin: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sato, K. (1933) Quoted in Anastasi, and Foley, J. (1941) Op. cit. Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956) Nonparametric Statistics. N.Y.: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.