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KMID : 0605720080140010085
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Journal of the Korean Society of Biological Therapies in Psychiatry
2008 Volume.14 No. 1 p.85 ~ p.93
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Understanding of Irony and Metaphor in Schizophrenia
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Kim Sung-Hun
Yoo Byung-Kuk
Kim Yang-Tae
Kwon Do-Hoon
Cho Sung-Nam
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Abstract
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Objectives : Irony is a subtle form of humor which involved saying things that you do not mean. A metaphor is an imaginative way of describing something by referring to something else that is the same in a particular way. There has not been much study examining irony and metaphor in patients with schizophrenia in Korea. The aim of the study was to investigate the ability to understand irony and metaphor in schizophrenic patients. In addition, it was aimed to examine whether impairments in understanding of irony and metaphor are related to theory of mind within schizophrenia.
Methods : Thirty-five stable schizophrenic patients and thirty-nine healthy subjects participated in this study. Psychiatric patients were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry of Bugok National Hospital. Consensus diagnoses, according to DSM-Ⅳ criteria, were obtained by two psychiatrists. Normal controls were chosen based on age, sex, education and IQ similarities with schizophrenic patients. All participants were administrated to the Irony and Metaphor Task, the False-Belief Task and the Hinting Task. They also underwent computerized versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, as the measure of working memory.
Results : The schizophrenic group performed poorly on the Irony and Metaphor Task, the False-Belief Task, the Hinting Task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test relative to controls. There was a significant relationship between the Irony and metaphor Task and the Hinting Task within schizophrenic group. However, we didn’t find any relationships between the Irony and metaphor Task performance and the False-Belief Task within schizophrenia. The performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in schizophrenia did not correlate with the Irony and Metaphor Task, the False-Belief Task and the Hinting Task.
Conclusion : These data suggest that schizophrenia have a specific deficits in understanding of irony and metaphor. In addition, the ability to understand irony and metaphor is likely to be more related to infer other’s intention than belief.
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KEYWORD
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Schizophrenia, Irony and metaphor, Theory of mind
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