The psychopathology of everyday art: a quantitative Study - World ...

of elements, differentiated controls from mixed patients (56) but not within
schizophrenics/mixed patients (46, 56). The perspective subcategory did not differentiate
between schizophrenics and other patients either (46) or between left/right brain damage
(35) or between schizophrenics with and without mental retardation (33). There were
no differences either, between controls and schizophrenics on depth perspective (38) or
size errors (33) which did distinguish severe mental retardation in schizophrenia from
other grades (33). Brain damaged patients generally (left or right) were distinguishable
from controls by overall perspective but not by strategy (overlap). Patients with brain
damage (35) or personality disorder (3) used less spacial relations than controls. Empty
space, apparently, distinguished depressed patients (75), Alzheimer's patients (36) and
brain damage (35) from controls. Furthermore, study 46 reports, impoverishment in
pictures by schizophrenics compared to other patients though both patient groups were
equally poor against normal children. These results, however, were not picked up by 2
studies which reported that picture space used neither distinguishes between patient
groups of: mania, depressed, organics, schizophrenia and controls (21), schizophrenics
and controls (38).
There seem two obvious sources of confusion: Most significant findings were
from measures of neglect or emptiness (which could be taken to mean incompleteness).
Measures which gave non-significant results as proportions of media coverage were
typical of highly controlled studies, but which used very small group sizes (each group
(21, N=25; 38, N=33) so probably suffer lack of power.
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