The British Journal of Psychiatry 129: 584-591 (1976)
© 1976 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Associative intrusions in the vocabulary of schizophrenic and other patients
J Klinka and D Papageorgis
Associative intrusions in the thought of short-term and long-term
schizophrenic, non-schizophrenic, and non-psychiatric in-patients were
measured using Rattan and Chapman's multiple-choice vocabulary test. This
test consists of two subtests, one with associative distractors and the
other without distractors, which are matched on discriminating power and
thus permit the assessment of differential specific performance deficit
uncontaminated by the generalized deficit characterisitc of many patient
groups. Results indicated that some susceptibility to associative
intrusions characterizes all groups of long-term patients regardless of
diagnosis. Short-term patients (with the possible exception of
schizophrenic) did not show such heightened susceptibility. Lengthy illness
and/or stay in hospital are apparently implicated in at least this form of
thought disorder, which has been often considered to be a uniquely
schizophrenic phenomenon.
