Reasoning in Schizophrenia: Review and Analysis from the Cognitive Perspective

Very interesting article that reviews studies about reasoning abilities in schizophrenia.

Abstract:

A long tradition of research on schizophrenia has considered defects in logical reasoning one of the core features of this mental disorder. According to this view, reasoning in schizophrenia is severely impaired. Nevertheless, an increasing amount of data coming from the cognitive perspective is making this conclusion more controversial, and seems to be heading in the same direction as a very different kind of tradition, that of psychiatric phenomenology. This approach considers the typical features of schizophrenia in terms of an enhancement of logic, rather than a defect of it (cf. minkowski 1927, Binswanger 1956, Blankenburg 1971). In this paper, we will bring together these two different perspectives in order to explain why the “lack of logic” paradigm seems to fail to understand schizophrenics’ reasoning abilities.

http://www.clinicalneuropsychiatry.org/pdf/ahead-pub/CardellaEpub.pdf

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I’m reading it, but it seems to focus a lot on a black and white template for reasoning.

I don’t think understanding reasoning is that simple, and also that a lower IQ is the reason for making bad assumptions. In here: "when schizophrenic patients make mistakes about the judgment of a syllogism’s validity, they do so because of a general weakness in cognitive performance (e.g., a lower I.Q.), rather than a specific impairment of reasoning abilities in schizophrenia. In other words, they make mistakes when they have a lower IQ or some other cognitive deficit. "

Nowadays an IQ is not a testament of intelligence or cognitive ability. My IQ goes from 135 to 111 depending on the days I do it.

And also, a lot of my reasoning while psychotic is simillar to reasonings of friends that are not psychotic. I think it’s a diversion from the serious issues, that are believing in one’s thoughts, and cognitive deficits, and social issues, and the impact of psychosis on the post-psychotic psyche.

I don’t like the separation between a healthy mind and a “schizophrenic” like we’re lab rats and need to be studied, we don’t diverge that much from a “normal” thought process, we just believe too much in our imaginations.

Sorry, don’t mean to discredit, I can be way off and completely wrong, but these are just my 2 cents on the issue.

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This seems a general point about research. I can see how that may trouble you. On the other hand, I do think study and research are the way to understand and explain what happens. And that seems to me to be a prerequisite for treatment and prevention. If it troubles you to feel like an object of research, maybe best to stay out of the news section.

Well, isn’t one form of reasoning or another the way we come to believe our thoughts/imaginations? or does it happen just by chance?

I agree with that last point, there is nothing about the impact of psychosis on the post-psychotic psyche to be found in this article. Though I also think it would be a bit unfair to expect a mere article to cover all aspects of psychosis on all levels of explanation, and to offer therapeutical guidelines on top of that. This issue of how to go on in life, and how to reconcile a person’s psychotic periods with their non-psychotic life is one that interests me a lot though. That seems to me to be such a crucial element of recovery, and I am (also) a bit disappointed about the articles to be found on this matter. Which is why I pursue research in it myself. The kind of articles like this one, have little therapeutical use (although turning over the logic-deficit paradigm may have some de-stigmatizing impact) let alone those of a neuroscientific or molecular biological nature. These seem to me to inherently have that objectifying nature, which is what makes them scientific, but which also leaves out the patient as a whole person capable of meaningful thoughts and actions etc. That latter perspective, I would think, fits a therapeutical setting much better. For us patients, when oriented towards recovery, these scientific articles may not be of too much use. But there’s another category for that on the forum.

:slight_smile: You’re right.

I felt that stating that all schizophrenics are superior in logic is a reasoning falacy, on an article about reasoning. Maybe I’m just proving them right :smile:

It’s certainly dubious as an indicator if you have widely varying abilities. In my case for verbal IQ questions I score in the very superior range but for spatial/nonverbal questions score in the borderline/low average range.