Topıc Maıntenance in Schızophrenıa

Abstract

Language impairment is one of the hallmarks of schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to compare pragmatic skills between the patients with schizophrenia and healthy control groups within the framework of topic maintenance in verbal discourse. Fifty patients with schizophrenia and fifty healthy control subjects matched for age, sex and education level with the patients were included in the study. The subjects’ speech was evaluated by using a semi structured test. As a result, a relationship between the speech of schizophrenia patients and the healthy control groups was found out in terms of topic maintenance. It was statistically proven that the ratio of the healthy control groups’ topic maintenance success was higher than the ratio of the patients’ with 95% confidence (p<0.05) and the patients were found to be more unsuccessful to maintain a topic in verbal discourse. These dysfunctions are thought to be because of the thought disorders which result in disorganized speech.