[Communication deviance and thought disorder in schizophrenia: a case study].

Introduction: Communication deviance (CD) means forms of communication that are hard to follow and that make difficult the consensual sharing of attention and meaning, and it has been hypothesized as a contributor to psychopathology of offspring, including schizophrenia. There is increasing evidence that CD may also trigger relapse of symptomatic illness in remission. We present a case with detailed sequence analysis, where we demonstrate disordered functioning in a family of a 27-year-old male patient with schizophrenia.

Method: The patient and his parents participated in the Consensus Rorschach (CR) situation, a common problem solving task. Behaviour during the interaction was coded and analysed on different levels, including relational and symbolic level; and also, focusing on specific patterns of thought disorder. Results are in accordance with former findings that CD level is high in families of patients with schizophrenia. This type of communication was found to initiate transactional processes which resemble "games" aimed at gaining control over other family members. The content level of communication was frequently immature, and communication reflected pseudo-dependence as an only form of conflict resolution.

Conclusions: Findings from the present study may be important from the perspective of secondary and tertiary prevention, and they reflect need for intervention focusing on the whole family.