Thought Disorder and Family Relations of Schizophrenics: II. A Classification of Forms of Thinking

A. Introduction  We have summarized in a companion paper the conceptual and clinical basis for the hypothesis that specific links exist between family structure or patterns and individual schizophrenic thought disorder.¹ As part of an effort to evaluate this possibility systematically, we have evolved a new conceptualization and classification of forms of thinking.This formulation has been successfully used in studies in which the presence and variety of schizophrenic illness, defined especially in terms of form or style of thinking, were deduced ("predicted") using projective test data from the rest of the patient's family^2-4 and excerpts of parental interaction.⁵ A methodological prerequisite for these predictive studies was that the judges who blindly evaluated the family data and the clinicians who independently diagnosed the patients from these families must understand in the same way the diagnostic categories or continua which were used.