Poetry therapy for schizophrenia: a linguistic psychotherapeutic model of renku (linked poetry)

Disturbances of association are suggested to be fundamental characteristics in schizophrenia (Bleuler, 1950). Schizophrenics may have pathological semantic systems that are less socially conditioned. In fact, schizophrenics often fail to understand the meaning of words in context and cannot communicate their intended meaning to others (Cutting, 1985). Language impairments may also precipitate thought disorders, including misjudgment of experience, delusions, and a distorted worldview, because human cognitive ability is enhanced by the linguistic aspects of thought (Lieberman, 1984). The current psycholinguistic approach suggests that chronic schizophrenics have language impairments at the levels of semantics, cognition, and pragmatics. The semantic and cognitive levels can be regarded as deeper structures that operate association and thought, while the pragmatic level is viewed as the study of meaning in context pertinent to communication and the relations between signs and their users. I will present two cases of chronic schizophrenia significantly improved after participating in renku, a Japanese traditional poetic form, used in one-to-one therapeutic sessions. The unique character of renku is its dialogue in form. A series of exchanges of stanzas seem to treat schizophrenic language impairments as well as disordered reality testing. The therapeutic functions of poetic language in renku will be discussed and a linguistic psychotherapeutic model will be proposed.