The Psychopathology of Language and Cognition

Abstract

(from the preface) We have sought in the present book to sketch some of the progress that has taken place over the past quarter century in research and theory on language and communication in the psychopathological context and to identify what appear to us as potentially promising avenues of further inquiry for the future. If there was a common orientation toward language and communication behavior in the psychopathological context, it expressed itself in 2 objectives. The 1st was an attempt to arrive at a precise description of the way or ways that individuals diagnosed as belonging to a particular nosological category . . . differed from those in other diagnostic categories or from normals. The 2nd objective, which was much more complex, dealt with attempts to utilize language and communication to advance our understanding of the psychopathological processes involved in various psychiatric disorders. One of the major and continuing sources of complexity in this area of inquiry was-and still remains-the relationship between language and thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)