Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:47:33.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Syndrome of Schizophrenia: Relations Between Electrodermal Response, Lateral Asymmetries and Clinical Ratings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. Manchanda
Affiliation:
Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RF

Summary

Forty-eight undrugged hospital admissions with a present state examination (PSE) diagnosis of schizophrenia were subdivided by the direction of lateral differences in electrodermal response amplitudes to tones. The 29 with larger right-hand responses and the 19 with larger left-hand responses were compared on CATEGO syndromes and brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS). The larger group had symptoms like those of classical Bleulerian schizophrenia—blunted affect emotional withdrawal, impaired social functioning, disorganized thought and retarded motility. The other group manifested florid symptoms including hypomanic affect pressure of speech, ideas of reference, depressive hallucinations and delusions, hypochondriasis, grandiosity and situational anxiety. The psychophysiological measures may provide an objective aid to diagnosis and implications for altered cerebral organization in psychotic patients.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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

Bear, D. & Fedio, P. (1977) Quantitative analysis of interictal behaviour in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology, 34, 454–67.Google Scholar
Brockington, I. F., Wainwright, S. & Kendall, R. E. (1980) Manic patients with schizophrenic or paranoid symptoms. Psychological Medicine, 10, 7383.Google Scholar
Fisher, S. & Cleveland, S. F. (1959) Right-left body reactivity problems in disorganised states. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 128, 396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1973) Bilateral asymmetry of skin conductance orienting activity and levels in schizophrenia. Journal of Biological Psychology, 1, 2141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1979) Lateral asymmetries in electrodermal activity and psychosis. In Hemisphere Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology (eds. Gruzelier, J. H. and Flor-Henry, P.). Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1981a) Hemispheric imbalances masquerading as paranoid non-paranoid syndromes. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7, 662–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1981b) Cerebral laterality and psychopathology: Fact and fiction. Psychological Medicine, 11, 93108.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1981c) A working model of hemispheric disorganisation in psychosis. In Proceedings of III World Congress of Biological Psychiatry. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H., Eves, F. F. & Connolly, J. F. (1981a) Reciprocal hemispheric influences on response habituation in the electrodermal system. Physiological Psychology, 9, 313–17.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H., Connolly, J. F., Eves, F. F., Hirsch, S. R., Zaki, S. A., Weller, M. F. I. & Yorkston, N. J. (1981b) Effect of propranolol and phenothiazines on electrodermal orienting and habituation in schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 11, 93108.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H., Eves, F. F., Connolly, J. F. & Hirsch, S. R. (1981c) Orienting, habituation, sensitisation and dishabituation in the electrodermal system of consecutive, drug-free, admissions for schizophrenia. Biological Psychology, 12, 187209.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Hammond, N. V. (1977) The effect of chlorpromazine upon bilateral asymmetries of bioelectrical skin reactivity in schizophrenia. Studia Psychologica, 19, 4050.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Hammond, N. V. (1980) Lateralised deficits and drug influences on the dichotic listening of schizophrenic patients. Biological Psychiatry, 15, 759–79.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Venables, P. H. (1974) Bimodality and lateral asymmetry of skin conductance orienting activity in schizophrenics: Replication and evidence of lateral asymmetry in patients with depression and disorders of personality. Biological Psychiatry, 8, 5573.Google Scholar
Hecaen, H. & Albert, M. L. (1978) Human Neuropsychology. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kety, S. S. (1980) The syndrome of schizophrenia: Unresolved questions and opportunities for research. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 421–36.Google Scholar
Kimmel, H. D., van Olst, E. H. & Orlebeke, J. F. (eds.) (1979) The Orienting Reflex in Humans. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lang, P. J. & Buss, A. H. (1965) Psychological deficit in schizophrenia: II. Interference and activation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 70, 77106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luria, A. R. & Homskaya, E. D. (1963) Le trouble du role regulateur du language au course des lésions au lobe frontal. Neuropsychologia, 1, 9.Google Scholar
Magaro, P. A. (1980) Cognition in Schizophrenia and Paranoia: The Integration of Cognitive Processes. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Mellor, C. S. (1970) First rank symptoms of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 1523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myslobodsky, M. S. & Horesh, N. (1978) Bilateral electrodermal activity in depressive patients. Biological Psychology, 6, 111–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohman, A. (1981) Electrodermal activity in schizophrenia: A review. Biological Psychology, 12, 87145.Google Scholar
Oldfield, R. C. (1971) The assessment of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97.Google Scholar
Overall, J. E. & Gorham, D. R. (1962) The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychological Reports, 19, 799812.Google Scholar
Pribam, K. H. & McGuinness, D. (1975) Arousal, activation and effort in the control of attention. Psychological Review, 82, 116–49.Google Scholar
Sourek, K. (1965) The Nervous Control of Skin Potentials in Man. Prague: Nakiadateistvi Cesckoslovenska Akademie Ved.Google Scholar
Syz, H. C. (1926) Psychogalvanic studies in schizophrenia. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 16, 747–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toone, B. K., Cooke, E. & Lader, M. H. (1979) The effect of temporal lobe surgery on electrodermal activity: Implications for an organic hypothesis in the aetiology of schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 9, 281–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uherik, A. (1975) Interpretation of bilateral asymmetry of bioelectrical skin reactivity in schizophrenics. Studia Psychologica, 17, 51–9.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. F. & Sartorius, N. (1975) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yorkston, N. J., Zaki, S. A., Weller, M. P. I., Gruzelier, J. H. & Hirsch, S. R. (1981) DL-propranolol and chlorpromazine following admission for schizophrenia: A controlled comparison. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 63, 1327.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.