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

one unreliable variable, decoration (38), which may have been confused with other similar
elements. The other items were congruent within their subcategories and gave high overall
reliabilities. Reliable subcategories were: the presence or absence of detail (56, 46, 61, 75,
35, 36, 44, 21, 33) and superfluous detail (48 56 35 46 49 36 61).
Discrimination: From 28 variables tested for discrimination properties, there were 6
significant results which occurred only in the objective presence or absence of details
subcategory. Superfluous detail, which included words was rated universally non
significant by 5 studies and in support, study 46 included in its qualitative report, the
comment that words and microscopia are equally common in children, schizophrenics
and patient controls. All studies measuring global elements found differences. 2 studies
reported within patient group results: between the 'integration' and 'sealing over' coping
strategies of schizophrenia (44), and within 3 partitions of schizophrenic and retarded
subjects (study 33). 4 studies reported results against normal controls: Depression was
discriminated from controls (75) and left brain damage from controls (35). However,
while study 21, supported the brain damage/control difference, their control scores
overlapped those of mania, and did not discriminate depression or schizophrenia on this
index. The solution probably lies in the results of the fourth study which supports most
results, that mixed psychiatric patients were discriminable from normal controls (56), but
not schizophrenia, so, the findings of no differences in 75 counted detail elements
between schizophrenics and other patients (46) are also supported.
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