* Esra Aydinli, Silay Sevilmis, Ahmet Ayer, Berna Yalincetin, Berna Binnur Akdede, Koksal Alptekin. 4.th SIRS Conference.Florence- Italy. 2014.
Introduction
Thought and language disorder are among the most crucial aspects of Schizophrenia, however there are still many unexamined questions about these aspects and research has only recently started focusing on them(1,2,3). The main objective of the current study was to examine thought and language disorder in a sample of first episode psychosis. In this study, thought and language disorder in a clinical sample were assessed as compared to a control sample. In addition, possible associations between thought disorder and various clinical variables were explored.
Method
The sample of the study consisted of 56 First Episode Psychosis and 33 healthy individuals. Demographics (i.e., sex, age, education, threatening life experience in the last year, family history of schizophrenia) and clinical variables were assesed. Both clinical and healthy samples were administered Thought and Language Index. This index consists 8 subscales; assessing poverty and disorganization of thought (4). Poverty of thought was assessed with items for poverty of speech , weakening of goal and perseveration of ideas, whereas disorganization of thought was assessed with items for looseness, peculiar word use, peculiar sentence construction, peculiar logic and distractibility(5). Associations between Thought and Language Index scores and clinical data were examined.
Results
In this study, having the first degree relatives of schizophrenic patients, a history of schizophrenia in the family was found to be significantly related with poverty of thought (p=.022), poverty of speech (p=0.004), and weakening of goal (p=0.043).
Conclusion
Thought and language disorder in first episode psychosis are related with family aggregation and can be genetically transmitted. Investigation of causes of thought disorder observed in the early episodes of schizophrenia with larger clinical samples will contribute to further understanding of psychosis.
Key Words: Schizophrenia, first episode psychosis, thought disorders, language
disorders, Thought and Language Index.
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