Suicidal behavior in hospitalized schizophrenics

A group of 131 hospitalized schizophrenics who had attempted suicide within the past year was compared with another group of 70 hospitalized schizophrenics who had not attempted suicide, using the Present State Examination (PSE) depressive symptoms. The former had a significantly higher number of symptoms indicative of a depressive disorder.     

Help-seeking behavior in families of schizophrenics

To meet the exigencies of coping with the onset of schizophrenia in the family, caregivers sought out an array of professional and nonprofessional supports. The respondents to a questionnaire, all members of a self-help group, reported considerable merit to the help of friends, relatives, and group members. In contrast, the various forms of therapy were valued little; nearly half found no value at all. These findings are better understood when needs of families are expressed. Of highest priority are understanding of the illness, practical guidance in patient management, and community resources such as housing. These are not typical functions of therapy. Self-help groups may serve these needs better.     

Preliminary analysis of language styles in a sample of schizophrenics

Language use of schizophrenics and normal people was compared by applying the language analysis program, Korean Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Participants were asked to write a story about the most emotional experience of their lives on A4 size paper. 28 schizophrenics (M age: 26 yr.) and 32 normal people (M age: 23 yr.) participated. Analysis showed normal people used more words about jobs and achievements and fewer words about sex and food. The schizophrenics used fewer pronouns, personal pronouns, and adverbs than the normal group. Some aspects of clinical mechanism are manifest in language uses.     

Impact of language on behavior treatment outcomes

Resurgence of problem behavior following effective functional communication training (FCT) can occur if the functional communication response contacts extinction. For children from dual-language households, extinction may unintentionally occur due to language variations among communication partners. In the current study, the experimenters evaluated the effect of language on FCT outcomes. Participants were 3 children with autism who engaged in problem behavior and whose parents reported Spanish as the primary home language. The experimenters conducted FCT in the English language followed by probes in the Spanish language. Results suggest that functional communication responses (FCRs) learned in the first language (English) may lead to resurgence of problem behavior when English FCRs do not contact reinforcement in the untaught language (e.g., Spanish). Two of the participants required additional teaching in the secondary language (Spanish), while the third participant eventually emitted Spanish FCRs in the Spanish condition without explicit teaching.     

Personality organization and language behavior: The imprint of psychological differentiation on language behavior in varying communication conditions

The language behavior of field-independent (F-D) clinically normal, verbally resourceful femal college students was examined in three different communication conditions: Dialogue, Warm (vissually supportive) monologue, and Cold (visually nonsupportive and stressful) Monologue. F-I and F-D Ss produced similar amounts of the different types of language behavior evaluated in each of the three communicative conditions. However, they differed with respect to verbal output and length of sentence "packaging" unit in Monologue conditions. F-D Ss talked considerably less but at the same time produced different types of grammatically more elaborate language behavior in Warm and Cold Monologue compared to their Dialogue language behavior. F-I Ss talked considerably more but also showed a type of language autonomy. The pattern of language behavior which characterized F-I speech in Dialogue remained the same in both Monologue conditions.     

The effects of token reinforcement and feedback on the delusional verbal behavior of chronic paranoid schizophrenics

Prior research with token reinforcement in the psychiatric population has been directed at work adjustment, more than at major symptomatic behaviors. The purpose of the present research, on the other hand, was to investigate the effects of feedback and token reinforcement on the modification of delusional verbal behavior in chronic psychotics. Six male and four female paranoid schizophrenic patients participated in the study. The results indicated that the effects of feedback were effective about half the time in reducing percentage delusional talk, but in at least three cases produced adverse reactions. Token reinforcement, however, showed more consistency and reduced the percentage of delusional verbal behavior in seven of the nine subjects exposed to this procedure. The effects of both feedback and token reinforcement were quite specific to the environment in which they were applied and showed little generalization to other situations. It would appear that using token reinforcement can reduce the percentage delusional speech of chronic paranoid schizophrenics.