Premorbid competence, thought-action orientation, and outcome in psychiatric patients with mild mental retardation

Abstract

AbstractIn a sample of 112 psychiatric inpatients with mild mental retardation, lower premorbid social competence was significantly related to symptom expression in action compared to thought. Both of these variables were correlated with length of current hospitalization. Premorbid social competence and thought-action orientation have been major variables in developmental research on psychopathology in patients without mental retardation. These results indicate that these variables can be applied to differentiate developmental level among inpatients with mild mental retardation and that these developmental distinctions are related to other clinical variables, as has been found for inpatients without mental retardation. The findings also attest to the heterogeneity in developmental level among inpatients with mild mental retardation.