Hand Test Content Indicators of Overt Psychosexual Maladjustment in Neurotic Males

This is a study of the relationship between improved conditions of attention and communication and ability to abstract in patients with schizophrenia and organic brain syndromes. Groups of 20 schizophrenics, 20 organics, and 20 normals, equated for intelligence, were given the Similarities subtest on the WAIS and a multiple choice version which was designed to increase the focus of attention and to facilitate communication. The main results supported the hypothesis that special conditions facilitating concentration and communication do not necessarily enhance schizophrenics' abstract functioning more than that of organic patients. Moreover, it was concluded that a deficit in abstract functioning is not a general or invariable consequence of schizophrenia.