Performance of psychiatric diagnostic groups on measures and strategies of verbal fluency

Analysis of cognitive deficits in people with psychiatric disorders can increase our understanding of those disorders. Here we contrast the performance of 5 diagnostic groups (n=120; schizophrenia, mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe depression, panic disorder, and healthy controls) on word and letter fluency tasks using 3 scoring systems (Abwender, Swan, Bowerman, & Connolly, 2001; Raskin, Silwinski, & Brood, 1992; Troyer, Moscovitch, & Winocur, 1997) that differ in complexity to determine what system best differentiates diagnostic groups. The 3 scoring methods differ in the range of cognitive strategies assessed and how strategies are defined. Groups with schizophrenia and major depression were hypothesized to show greater deficits in fluency than groups with panic disorder and healthy controls. Results showed that the group with schizophrenia had the lowest level of fluency regardless of scoring method, with the group with severe major depression also showing deficits. The healthy control and panic disorder groups, and unexpectedly, the mild-to-moderate depression group showed few, if any, deficits. The scoring method proposed by Abwender et al. (2001) proved to be most comprehensive and sensitive to group differences.