S-48-01
Evolutionary perspectives on schizophrenia
J. Polimeni. University of Manitoba Dept, of Psychiatiy, Winnipeg, Canada
Objective: Schizophrenia is likely an ancient condition with a substantial genetic basis. Consequently, evolutionary forces may have played an integral part in its development. Methods: We reviewed the literature on this subject published since the 1960’s. Results: Evolutionary based hypotheses concerning schizophrenia typically fall into two general categories: 1) ideas that speculate on the possible evolutionary advantages of the condition and 2) formulations that frame schizophrenia in its classical orientation, as a disease or accident of normal brain evolution. Conclusions: In addition to reviewing previous hypotheses, we present our own idea that shamanism and group selection may elucidate the origins of schizophrenia.
S-48-02
Theory of mind and linguistic skills in patients with schizophrenia
M. Briine. Centre for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Bochum, Germany
Objective: “Relevance Theory” proposes that the pragmatic use of human language requires an intact theory of mind (ToM). ToM is defined as the ability to attribute desires, beliefs and intentions to one-self and others. Methods: Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were assessed using a German Proverb Test (Barth and Kiifferle, 2001), a ‘theory of mind’ test battery, executive functioning tests and verbal intelligence. Psychopathology was measured using the PANSS (Kay et al., 1987). Patients’ performance was compared to a group of healthy control persons. Results: ‘Theory of mind’ performance predicted, conservatively estimated, about 39 percent of the variance of correct proverb interpretation in the patient group. Conclusions: The ability of schizophrenic patients to interpret proverbial metaphorical speech crucially depends on their ability to infer mental states. Future studies may address differences between diagnostic subtypes of schizophrenia.
S-48-03
Non-verbal communication processes predict onset and course of depression - ethological analyses of depressed patients’ and interviewers’ interpersonal behaviour
D. Geerts, A. L. Bouhuys, T. W. van Os. University of Groning Dept, of Psychiatry, Groningen, Netherlands
Objective: Attachment theorists have proposed that the style of parental bonding (PB) may have substantial impact on personality development. Methods: We studied whether PB can predict the outcome of treatment in 106 depressed outpatients. Results: Poor outcome was predicted by high paternal overprotection and low maternal care in females and by high maternal and paternal care in males. We investigated whether the association between PB and outcome can be explained by non-verbal interpersonal processes. We registered the patients’ and interviewers’ involvement behaviour during a pre-treatment interview. Conclusions: Convergence of these patient and interviewer displays during the interview acted upon the association between maternal care and outcome: the more similar these displays became, the stronger the association between mother care and outcome was.
S-48-04
Deficit of theory of mind found in remitted depression: Practical implication
S. Kanba, Y. Inoue, K. Yamada. Graduate School of Medical Sciences,Dept. Neuropsychiatry, Fukuoka, Japan
It is known that patients with schizophrenia have impaired theory of mind (ToM) during acute episodes. The aim of this study was to investigate ToM ability in patients remitted from the first episode of schizophrenia. In results, patients with schizophrenia showed statistically significant impairment in sequence, a second order false belief task and sum score in ToM task. No correlation was found between answers in any of the four areas of ToM and IQ. Our results suggest that ToM impairment can be detected not only in the acute episode as found in previous research, but also in remission from the first episode. Since the ToM impairment suggests a decline in the function of social relationships, the evaluation of ToM ability in patients with remitted schizophrenia may be a useful tool in providing treatments for better social adjustment. Previously, we have found that patients with major depression continued to have deficit in ToM ability after recovery. We will discuss the difference between the deficit in remitted schizophrenia and remitted depression.
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