This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Thomas, P.
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Thomas, P.
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, M.

The British Journal of Psychiatry 168: 337-343 (1996)
© 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Speech and language in first onset psychosis differences between people with schizophrenia, mania, and controls

P Thomas, G Kearney, E Napier, E Ellis, I Leuder and M Johnson

BACKGROUND. Several studies have revealed linguistic differences between diagnostic groups. This study investigates the extent to which these differences are accounted for by factors such as chronicity, or disturbances in cognition associated with acute psychosis. METHOD. Transcripts of interviews with patients suffering from RDC schizophrenia (n=38), mania (n=11) and controls (n=16) were examined using the Brief Syntactic Analysis (BSA). Patients were within two years of first onset of psychotic symptoms, and received tests of working memory and attention. RESULTS. The speech of patients with schizophrenia was syntactically less complex than that of controls. Patients with schizophrenia and mania made more errors than controls. These differences were, to some extent, related to group differences in social class, working memory and attention, although significant group differences in language persisted after the effects of covariates were removed. CONCLUSIONS.The study confirms the existence of differences in the speech of psychiatric patients. Low complexity appears to be a particular feature of speech in schizophrenia, even in the earliest stages of the condition.The importance of this finding is discussed in relation to two recent theories of schizophrenia: Crow's evolutionary model, and Frith's neuro-psychological model.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
T. T. J. Kircher, T. M. Oh, M. J. Brammer, and P. K. McGuire
Neural correlates of syntax production in schizophrenia
The British Journal of Psychiatry, March 1, 2005; 186(3): 209 - 214.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
R. L. C. Mitchell, R. Elliott, M. Barry, A. Cruttenden, and P. W. R. Woodruff
Neural response to emotional prosody in schizophrenia and in bipolar affective disorder
The British Journal of Psychiatry, March 1, 2004; 184(3): 223 - 230.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Psychosom. Med.Home page
J. Neeleman, J. Ormel, and R. V. Bijl
The Distribution of Psychiatric and Somatic Ill Health: Associations With Personality and Socioeconomic Status
Psychosom Med, March 1, 2001; 63(2): 239 - 247.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]