Psychophysiological reactions to films by chronic schizophrenics. I. Effects of drug status.

40 chronic schizophrenic patients had their psychophysiological responses to 1 of 2 tension-arousing movies recorded. Following assignment to drug (thiordizane) or placebo status for 1 wk. they were retested on a similar film. The results were that the drug Ss showed a decrease in skin resistance and heart rate but not finger-pulse volume over their responses to the 1st showing while the placebo group showed opposite trends. Interview data collected after the films indicated no correlation between the autonomic changes and plot comprehension. Pilot work on word-association test responses indicates that the drug group showed a decrease while the placebo group showed an increase in idiosyncratic responses.