Relationship of abstract thinking to mentalization in schizophrenia

IntroductionThe formation of thinking in ontogenesis follows the line of progressive differentiation and integration of the representations of objects, events, and relationships. The same is true for the development of mentalization ability, conceived as a thought process in the area of social interactions.ObjectivesThe purpose of the study was to compare the particularities of thought processes when dealing with different types of material: physical objects (operational thinking) and social situations (mentalization).Methods40 inpatients with schizotypal personality disorder, 40 inpatients with paranoid schizophrenia and 40 controls took part in the study. The Objects Sorting Test was used to assess operational thinking. The mentalization ability was assessed using two SCOR-S scales for Thematic Apperception Test: Complexity of representations of people and Understanding of social causality.ResultsThe results of correlation analysis support the existence of the reverse links between the impairments of operational thinking and both the complexity of representations of people (r=-.36, р