M.A. (Psychology) / The present study investigated the diagnostic usefulness of a content analysis of the verbal behaviour of schizophrenic patients. The schizophrenic condition was approached via a cognitive social developmental model of personality. The high-risk schizophrenic constitutionally does not seem to be equipped to cope with potential threats from his environment, such as unstable conditions or ambigious interpersonal relationships and communication. He could subsequently adjust poorly to his environment and he learns to perceive, process and produce information in a disturbed manner. The disturbance seems particularly evident in the schizophrenic person's incompetent communication with and participation in his world. He could progress further towards a condition characterized by withdrawal, fear and other forms of mental suffering, and a lack of identity. These three abovementioned features of the schizophrenic condition - as viewed relative to "normal" states - were introduced into three experimental situations, represented respectively by the words "daydreaming", "pain" and a topic "self". Each of the 25 diagnozed male schizophrenics were asked to talk about these concepts (presented to them in the form of words written on cards) in any way they liked. Their responses to these situations were analyzed by means of a specifically designed content analysis model of verbal behaviour. For the purpose of this study, verbal behaviour denotes the person's relative degree of communicative competence, which appears to reflect the nature and progress of his schizophrenic condition. Verbal behaviour was interdependently analyzed on three levels. The first of these, language structure, assessed the schizophrenic person in terms of the more latent aspects of disturbed thinking, such as thought blocking and failure to integrate ideas. An assessment was also made of these language deviations as they were reflected in syntactical structures. On a second level, semantic content, subjects' verbal productions were analysed in terms of themes which represented their major preoccupations. The effect of the three experimental situations on the semantic content of the subjects' responses was also investigated. The third level of content analysis, language behaviour, dealt with the schizophrenic individual's verbal and nonverbal reactions to his perceived environment. It appears that the schizophrenic person projects his condition through his communicative competence, into symbolic representations of his condition. The projections seem to coincide with stages of progression of the schizophrenic condition, or degree of disturbance. This tendency, as well as certain others investigated in the present study, ted to the formation of hypotheses which can be investigated in further research. It would appear that the quantification of communicated material in the clinical or other interview, has diagnostic value.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:12197 |
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| Creators | Kroes, Inette Anne |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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