title: The clinical significance of thought disorder across time in psychiatric patients.
abstract: The occurrence and clinical significance of thought disorder, as measured by general abstraction ability and idiosyncratic abstractions, remains a complex and ambiguous area of inquiry. We studied 49 subjects in a longitudinal design in which the effects of general psychopathology and depression on abstraction function were assessed. Results indicate that a) depressive patients have a generalized abstraction dysfunction not limited to specific content areas, b) some depressive patients have a residual abstraction deficit on discharge from the hospital, c) idiosyncratic abstractions are a characteristic but not pathognomonic marker for schizophrenia, and d) across all subjects, abstraction difficulties represent a seemingly state-dependent "final common pathway" that significantly correlates with general psychopathological impairment rather than level of depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego 92103.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Braff
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Glick
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zisook
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology