[Concretism as a Correlate of the Acuteness of Schizophrenic Symptomatology].

Formal thought disorders are common in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Among them, concretism stands for deficiencies in the understanding of idiomatic expressions, metaphors and proverbs. However, little is known as to whether concretism is a correlate of the acuteness or severity of schizophrenia within patients. In this pilot study data of 28 patients was collected in the process of implementing a proverb test for screening purposes as part of an enhancement to the standard assessment of the general cognitive functioning of the patients. Our findings support the argument for such a coherence as a significant correlation between the degree of acuteness and concretism was found. However, the proverb test also correlated significantly with our standard cognitive assessment so the question as to which degree the proverb test will add further information regarding the general cognitive functioning needs to be addressed. Finally, the question as to whether there is an indication to specifically approach concretism in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia is discussed.