Psychophysiological Patterns in Chronic Schizophrenia

Abstract

This study was done at the Lafayette Clinic, Detroit, where the chief research activity is the interdisciplinary study of schizophrenia. There have been reports of previous studies on carbohydrate metabolism in schizophrenia [1] and on the use of a psychiatric coding system to correlate clinical and biological data [2.] Now our psychophysiology laboratory is completing a series of studies of which this is the second to be reported [3]. As with the previous studies mentioned, there have been many measurements made on the same subjects (often simultaneously) by techniques of biochemistry, physiology, psychology, and psychiatry. In this report we shall deal exclusively with the autonomic responses to three experimental stressors—pain apprehension, the psychodynamic stress interview, and insulin injection.