title: Diagnostic efficiency of the Rorschach schizophrenia and depression indices in identifying first-episode schizophrenia and severe depression
abstract: We studied the diagnostic efficiency of the Rorschach schizophrenia (SCZI) and depression (DEPI) indices for detecting first-episode schizophrenia and severe depression with and without psychotic features using DSM-IV as a gold standard measure. Twenty-seven patients with first-episode schizophrenia, 13 with bipolar I disorder, 28 with psychotic depression, 29 with non-psychotic depression, and 60 healthy controls were recruited for the study. The SCZI was highly specific with a very low false positive rate. The lowest positive value of 4, however, may yield false positives, especially among manic patients. The DEPI identified severe non-psychotic depression but not psychotic depression, suggesting that these patient groups invoke different perceptual-cognitive processes in formulating and articulating their Rorschach responses. Anyway, both the SCZI and the DEPI based on the psychological organization and functioning that are known to play a clearly formulated role in schizophrenia and depression, respectively, provide a valuable addition for diagnostics characterized by overt symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku University Central Hospital, Finland. tuula.ilonen@tyks.fi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ilonen
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taiminen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lauerma
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Leinonen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wallenius
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tuimala
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Salokangas