Psychosomatic Medicine 15:456-462 (1953)
© 1953 American Psychosomatic Society

Psychophysiological Responsiveness to Psychological Stress in Early Chronic Schizophrenic Reactions

¹ Research Laboratory, Veterans Administration Hospital, Downey, Illinois

Object of Study: To determine whether differential psychophysiological responsiveness exists between early chronic schizophrenics and normals in relation to (1) general level during rest and/or during psychological stress, (2) variability during a sequence of rest-stress situations, (3) degree of arousal by particular kinds of stress, and (4) degree of recovery from particular kinds of stress.

Subjects: A group of 18 early chronic schizophrenics and a group of 18 normal controls matched for age and sex.

Measures: Continuous recording of galvanic skin response, pulse rate, and respiration rate.

Procedure: A continuous presentation of three standardized psychological stress situations, each preceded and followed by rest periods. Stress situations included nonpersonal, personal, and interpersonal varieties of situations.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. P. Zahn, W. T. Carpenter Jr, and T. H. McGlashan Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Acute Schizophrenia: I. Method and Comparison With Normal Controls Arch Gen Psychiatry, March 1, 1981; 38(3): 251 - 258. [Abstract] [PDF]