Early subjective experiences in schizophrenic episodes.

Abstract

Using standard questions, the experimenter interviewed 20 schizophrenic and 20 nonschizophrenic subjects during psychiatric intake. Subjects were asked about recent subjective changes in their perceptual and cognitive functioning. Responses were scored for presence or absence of specific perceptual and thinking disturbances, using verbatim typescripts and a standard raters' manual. Schizophrenics, more often than nonschizophrenics, reported changes in the following: thought blocking which disrupts speech (p < .02), mental fatigue (p < .05), inability to focus attention (p < .05), attribution of impaired concentration to factors other than preoccupation (p < .05), visual illusions (p < .05), misidentineation of people (p < .01), language not understood (p < .02), more acute auditory preception (p < .05), and impaired perception of speech (p = .05). Half of the schizophrenics reported an attentional deficit like the one McGhie and Chapman proposed as the primary disorder in schizophrenia.The inner world of the schizophrenic has rarely been explored in a systematic, objective way. A number of clinicians have reported case studies of single patients, and a few have gathered reports from four or five selected patients into one paper to illustrate and bolster particular theories. However, the subjective experience of schizophrenia has been all but ignored by most researchers, who regard firstperson reports as somehow unscientific. A valuable source of hypotheses which could be tested experimentally is thereby lost.Most information about the subjective experience of schizophrenia has come from truefalse inventories. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) provides a cursory glimpse 1 This paper is based on a master's thesis submitted by the first author to the University of Wisconsin and supervised by the second author.

5-HT Modulation of Dopamine Release in Basal Ganglia in Psilocybin-Induced Psychosis in Man—A PET Study with [11C]raclopride

“…However, we observed only a moderate increase in anxious ego dissolution (AIA). These findings are reminiscent of reports that the earliest affective changes in schizophrenic patients are often pleasurable (Bowers and Freedman 1966;Chapman 1966;Gouzoulis et al 1994), and of the clinical observation that visual hallucinations occur significantly more often in acute than in chronic schizophrenic patients (McCabe et al 1972;Freedman and Chapman 1973;Gouzoulis et al 1994). Loosening of ego-boundaries and impaired thought control as measured by OSE and AIA, however, are not only common features of psilocybin-induced psychosis (Rümmele and Gnirss 1961;Bowers and Freedman 1966;Heimann, 1986;Vollenweider et al 1997) and early schizophrenic stages, but also occur in chronic schizophrenics in acute episodes (Fischman 1983).…”

A psychophysical investigation of auditory functioning in schizophrenia

“…Circumstantial evidence which is consistent with this is provided by accounts given by patients in the early stages of a schizophrenic disorder (Chapman, 1966;Freedman & Chapman, 1973).…”

Serotonin and Schizophrenia

“…Subsequent investigations confirmed that administration of mescaline, psilocybin, and LSD induces states that resemble the symptoms of the earliest phases of schizophrenia (Rinkel et al, 1952;Rinkel et al, 1955;Keeler, 1965;Bowers and Freedman, 1966). Indeed, the loss of control over thought processes that occurs after ingestion of psilocybin (Vollenweider et al, 1997b) closely parallels acute psychotic decompensation (Keeler, 1965;Bowers and Freedman, 1966 (McCabe et al, 1972;Freedman and Chapman, 1973). Hollister (1962) also argued that schizophrenics often display social and emotional withdrawal but this effect is rarely observed after administration serotonergic hallucinogens.…”