Linguistic analysis of schizophrenic patient communication in guided interviews

Abstract

The case study focuses on the preliminary results of an interdisciplinary research related to the genre of doctor-patient communication. Discourse analysis, or more precisely, conversation analysis is particularly relevant in the context of psychotherapeutic consultations. These discourses are defined by specific frameworks, and the success of the communication and the therapy largely depends on the patient’s mental capacity to adequately interpret the interlocutor’s inner
mental states. This capacity is referred to as mentalization (theory of mind, ToM). Numerous studies have outlined that schizophrenic patients have deficiencies in mentalization capacities, which may also be reflected in their language use. The case study consists of guided conversations related to Hemingway’s short story entitled The End of Something between a PhD student and a schizophrenic patient and a control participant, respectively. The answers pertaining to the interview questions are analysed with the help of an applied linguistic qualitative analysis rooted in functional pragmatics with a special focus on deictic elements in order to describe and categorize schizophrenic patients’ language use in terms of their mental capacities. Hopefully, the findings can contribute to the success of psychotherapeutic sessions by offering further methods and a somewhat deeper understanding of patients with mental disorders.