PERCEPT-GENETIC CODINGS OF DEFENSE IN CHRONIC-SCHIZOPHRENIA

Hitherto available studies on the percept-generic defensive organizati on of Schizophrenia have not distinguished between acute and chronic s tages of the disorder. The present research with the Defense Mechanism Test included 30 chronic inpatients with several years of hospitaliza tion and with acceptable perceptual thresholds. Compared with 30 sex- and age-matched nonschizophrenic psychiatric control patients, schizop hrenics resorted significantly more often to (a) regression, (b) disap pearance of the peripheral figure, (c) introjection (wrong sex attribu tion to the hero), and (d) significantly less often to the most mature variants of repression. In a further comparison of a subgroup of 16 w omen schizophrenic patients and a matched group of melancholic inpatie nts, the findings on regression, introjection, and repression were rep licated.