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T K Szulecka

Publications and source records attributed to T K Szulecka.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Delusions demand attention.

We used a variant of the Stroop paradigm to investigate attention bias in a young woman (JK) with delusional beliefs that she had died and that members of her family had changed. JK was shown sets of words printed in different colours of ink, and was asked to name the colour of each word. Sets of words were chosen which related to her delusions, and to possible contributory moods. The times taken by JK to colour-name words in these lists were compared with her times to colour-name sets of neutral words. There were three separate testing sessions which took place over a two-year period. In comparison to her times to name the colours of words in the neutral lists, JK was significantly slower to colour-name test lists containing words related to her delusional beliefs. When she was no longer experiencing these delusions, however, she was no slower to colour-name any of the test word lists. The results indicate that the Stroop paradigm can be useful in investigating individual cases of delusions and in monitoring changes in attentional bias over time.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Delusional misidentification of inanimate objects: a literature review and neuropsychological analysis of cognitive deficits in two cases.

Following a brief review of the literature on Delusions of Inanimate Doubles (DID), compared with other similar delusions, two cases are presented. Each completed a battery of tests designed to explore their cognitive abilities. In both cases, familiar and unfamiliar face-processing skills remained intact and word memory was unaffected. Their abilities to identify famous buildings and recognise unfamiliar houses were impaired. We propose that an extension of Ellis and Young's (1990) account of Capgras delusion can explain the cognitive impairments in case of DID. A comparison of the hypotheses of Staton et el. (1982), Ellis and Young (1990), and Van Lancker (1991) is also made. The last two have obvious similarities and seem to provide the best general approach. Finally, we caution the need to consider how a mood of suspiciousness may be needed to distort attribution processes that sustain delusional thinking.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

The Capgras and Cotard delusions.

We explore the relation between the Capgras delusion (the belief that your relatives have been replaced by impostors) and the Cotard delusion (the delusional belief that you have died). At first sight, these delusions would seem to have little to do with each other, except that they both involve bizarre claims about existence (for self or others). On closer examination, however, there are other parallels. Here, we summarise similarities in associated impairments of face perception, and argue that both delusions reflect an interaction of impairments at two levels. One set of contributory factors involves perceptual impairment, or anomalous perceptual experience. The other factors lead to an incorrect interpretation of this, for which we offer an explanation in terms of attribution theory. Although the Capgras and Cotard delusions are phenomenally distinct, they may therefore represent attempts to make sense of fundamentally similar experiences.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Dangerous delusions. Violence and the misidentification syndromes.

Among the mentally ill, those with well-developed delusions are more likely to commit violent crimes against persons than those with chronic, undifferentiated psychoses. Reports of violence associated with delusional misidentification are reviewed and four patients described who were either perpetrators or victims of assaults as a consequence of the syndromes of Frégoli, Intermetamorphosis, Subjective Doubles and Capgras. The cases illustrate the multiplicity of factors which have to be taken into consideration in order to predict whether an individual will act in a violent manner on these delusions.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Frégoli syndrome after cerebral infarction.

A case of a rare form of delusional misidentification, the Frégoli syndrome, is described. Although usually occurring in the setting of primary or secondary schizophrenic psychoses, delusional misidentification has been reported in affective, neurological, and toxic-metabolic disorders. In this instance a diagnosis of paranoia (delusional disorder) secondary to predominantly right hemisphere pathology, rather than schizophrenia, seemed more appropriate.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Psychiatric morbidity in first-year undergraduates and the effect of brief psychotherapeutic intervention--a pilot study.

Out of 1279 first-year undergraduates, two matched groups of students potentially vulnerable to psychological disturbance were identified. One was left to its own resources; the other was offered psychotherapeutic intervention, the effects of which were measured by the number of consultations with general practitioners, type of treatment and rate of withdrawal from university. Although the students in the intervention group had fewer consultations, lower General Health Questionnaire scores at follow-up, and fewer withdrew from university, due to the small numbers involved none of these differences achieved statistical significance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

The effect of sex, marriage and age at first admission on the hospitalization of schizophrenics during 2 years following discharge.

Two hundred and eighty-two schizophrenics discharged from St John's Hospital, Stone, were followed-up. The reliability of the diagnosis was measured by the extent of agreement among the hospital clinicians. The number of readmissions and the time spent in hospital were ascertained and correlated with the sex, civil state and age at first admission of the subjects. It was found that a higher proportion of males than of females was readmitted; that the proportion of single persons among male schizophrenics is higher than among comparable age groups in the general population; that single males are more frequently admitted than single females; that the peak age of first admission for males is 10 years earlier than for females and that men whose age at first admission is below the median are more frequently readmitted than those whose age at first admission is above it. Women are more frequently married than men at the onset of schizophrenia, giving rise to the suggestion that marriage has a protective effect in schizophrenia. This hypothesis was not supported by our findings. The bearing of these findings on the course, genetics and marital handicap of schizophrenia is discussed.

Adolescent↗