The relationship between theory of mind and structure of thoughts language in schizophrenia

Objective: Thoughts and Language impairments, the important indications of Schizophrenia, can be described by the features which occur as bizzarre and unusual content of thoughts, observable impairments in language. Reduction in thoughts and language functions is also a factor that affects the daily communication and prevents sharing of knowledge amoung individuals like the difficulties in Theory of Mind tasks that patients go through. The aim of this study is to compare the scores of Theory of Mind and Thought and Language scales between healthy volunteers and schziophrenia patients, and to analyze the relationship between the Theory of Mind and Thoughts and Language structure and reveal detailed findings about schizophrenia disorder in a more systematic and complimentary approach. Method: The study was carried out with the sample consists of 46 healthy participants and 46 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM IV. The patients were assessed with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Andersen Negative Symptoms scale (SANS), Andersen Positive Symptoms scale (SAPS), Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia, Dokuz Eylül scale of Theory of Mind (DEZİTÖ), Thoughts and Language scale (DDÖ). Results: Statistical significance was found between the patients and the healthy controls regarding the scores of Theory of Mind and Thoughts and Language scales. Besides, when the Theory of Mind scale and Thoughts and Language scale were analyzed, statistically significant correlation between these Theory of mind and empathic abilities of schizophrenia patients show impairments compared to healthy participants scales was also observed. Conclusion: The scores of schizophrenia patients in Theory of mind and Thoughts- Language scales compared with healthy participants demonstrate that performance of patients were lower than the healthy. Moreover, a statistically significant correlation was found. It has been found that patients who have low performance at Theory of Mind scale have also low performance at Thoughts-Language scale.