Contemporary psychology, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2005.
Original scientific paper
Cognitive characteristics of psychiatric patients
Nataša Jolkić-Begić
Leonida Akrap
Marina Franić
Abstract
Literature with data on cognitive deficits accompanying mental disorders is abundant, but it has not quite been clarified whether those are specific cognitive aberrations characteristic of a certain disorder or a specific cognitive dysfunction occuring in various mental disturbances. The aim of the performed investigation was to establish whether people with mental disorders present some consistencies in cognitive deficits in comparison to healthy population, and whether there are specific patterns of cognitive deficits regarding disorder severity. We wanted to know how these differences were evident in the test of nonverbal intellectual abilities. The data were collected by the standard application of the Revised Beta Series in various diagnostic groups. Clinical psychotic group (N=78) comprised participants with the diagnosis of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders (delusional disorder, paranoid psychosis). Clinical non-psychotic group (N=78) consisted of examinees with diagnosed neurotic and personality disorders. The control group (N=78) was formed according to previously determined criteria of gender, age and educational status and the examinees did not have a diagnosed mental disorder. The obtained results showed that persons with mental disorders, regardless of severity, achieve lower total test results. Although the mean results of all three examined groups are within the frame of average intellectual status, the groups with mental disorders show statistically lower IQ in comparison to healthy examinees. The performed discriminative analysis showed that persons with mental disturbances present a specific pattern of thwartedness in comparison to healthy participants. Psychotic and non-psychotic examinees show disturbances in perceptive and mental speed, as well as in space orientation. These disturbances do not depend on the disorder severity and are a sign of psychogenically thwarted functioning, characteristic for persons with mental disturbances. Clinical groups are mutually different in tests of discovering illogicalities and picture supplementation. Psychotic patients have statistically significant lower results in these subtests than non-psychotic ones. Both subtests defining this function are a measure of conceptual thinking which is particularly affectdd in schizophrenic patients.
Keywords
Cognitive deficits; mental disorder; IQ; non-verbal cognitive abilities
Hrčak ID:
3260
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2005.
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