[Can a specific assessment of attention contribute to the differential diagnostics of psychiatric disorders?].
OBJECTIVE
The present study examined whether or not children and adolescents with clinical symptoms can be differentiated according to the quantitative and qualitative aspects of attention.


METHODS
Eighty-eight probands (ages 10-18 years) assigned to seven ICD-10 diagnostic groups were studied for differences in their attention profiles. An attention task (Frankfurter Aufmerksamkeits Inventar--FAIR), (Moosbrugger & Oehlschlägel, 1996) validated multifold among children and adolescents in the domain of psychiatry was applied. This task covers three attention functions. Two of them are quantitative: selective attention and continuity of attention, while the third is qualitative: self-control.


RESULTS
Overall, two distinctly different group-specific attention profiles evolved. These differed mainly in terms of self-control. Whereas all of the diagnostic groups studied showed relatively normal selective attention and normal continuity of attention, two groups exhibited substantial differences with regard to self-control. Particularly children and adolescents with schizophrenia showed very poor self-control, as did those with hyperkinetic disorder, conduct disorder, depressive disorder, or compulsive disorder. In contrast, children and adolescents with eating disorders or other anxiety disorders had a high level of self-control.


CONCLUSIONS
Thus, the self-control function was found to be a strong attention parameter for the differential diagnosis of a clinically conspicuous population of children and adolescents.
Oh
Hyunsook
H
Seoul Institute of Clinical Psychology, Seoul, Korea. hunsookoh@hotmail.com
Moosbrugger
Helfried
H
Poustka
Fritz
F
D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology