Abstract
Cognitive deficits, including thought disturbances, have impacted the language production capabilities of individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorders. This research study explored the language production capabilities and the artwork of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorders. This study utilized previous research on the language production of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia by Goldberg, Aloia, Gourovitch, Missar, Pickar, and Weinberger (1998). Specifically, the researcher used the instrumentation for the measures of verbal fluency testing, which include measures of phonological and semantic fluency, from the aforementioned study to gain insight into the language production differences between schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorders. This research study addressed the question: Can the introduction of symbolic art therapy increase the verbal and symbolic output of adult psychiatric patients diagnosed with schizophrenia?
This research study used a quantitative analysis of data addressing change in the production of language as measured by verbal fluency testing, as well as a quantitative analysis of spontaneous speech of the participants and the artwork produced over the course of a four week period. Two individuals from a southern psychiatric clinic with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder participated in the study. Artwork was created during a series of four art therapy sessions that focused on symbolization. Neither participant showed conclusive or significant change over time from the pre-test and post-test verbal fluency measures. However, the artwork revealed a progress in both participants in the ability to use symbols in artwork. This result implied the need for further research assessing the differences of language production between the two disorders.
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