Cognitive aspects of auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia.

Cognitive research has been concerned with auditory hallucinations in schiz ophrenic patients since the seventies. For fifteen years now this approach has been dominated by two main views, one of which considers hallucinations as an action disorder (Frith) while the other considers hallucination as a disorder of inner speech. Our work is closed to Frith's, and our goal is t o look for a link existing between disorganization in schizophrenic patient s and the emergence of auditory hallucinations. Disorganization is understo od here as Bleulerian dissociation ("Spaltung") and is evaluated with Andre asen's TLC (Thought, Language and Communication) scale. The study involved two series of 12 patients. Clinical evaluation associated with three distin ct cognitive tasks exploring "the treatment of the context" and the communi cation. The tasks employed had been conceptualized by M.C. Hardy's team. Th e results obtained did not confirm the initial hypothesis of a significant link between clinical disorganization and the emergence of auditory halluci nations. Several hypotheses are made to explain these results. (C) 2000 Edi tions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.