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The British Journal of Psychiatry (1968) 114: 1079-1087. doi: 10.1192/bjp.114.514.1079
© 1968 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Familial Relationships of Allusive Thinking in University Students and Their Parents

N. McCONAGHY M.D., B.Sc., D.P.M.1 and M. CLANCY B.A.2

1 Senior Lecturer, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney
2 Tutor, Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney

Rapaport advanced objective evidence that two modes of thinking contributed to schizophrenic thought disorder. These were loosening of the associations, described originally by Bleuler, and impairment of abstract thinking, described originally by Vigotsky. The hypothesis is advanced that loosening of the associations is not a disorder of thinking, but a normal mode of abstract thinking, found in a high percentage of schizophrenics, but also present in a significant percentage of normal individuals. It has been suggested that this mode of thinking be termed allusive thinking. It is considered on clinical grounds that this mode of thinking is inherited.

The Object Sorting Test (O.S.T.) provides a measure of the presence of allusive thinking. Parents of schizophrenics with allusive thinking obtain higher O.S.T. scores than do non-schizophrenics. A study is reported investigating the relationship of O.S.T. scores of university students and their parents. There was a statistically significant trend for students with high scores to each have one parent with a higher score than did students with low scores. The mothers of students with high scores obtained significantly higher scores than did the mothers of students with low scores.

It has been suggested that high O.S.T. scores are associated with evidence of schizophrenic pathology. No evidence was found for this suggestion, using the MMPI F Scale score and examination performance as evidence of schizophrenic pathology.

The similar familial transmission of high O.S.T. scores in schizophrenics and non-schizophrenics is considered to support the hypothesis that this test is measuring the same mode of abstract thinking in both groups.

Submitted on October 9, 1967




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J. L. KARLSSON
Psychosis and academic performance
The British Journal of Psychiatry, April 1, 2004; 184(4): 327 - 329.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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