THE RESPONSE OF ADULT SCHIZOPHRENICS TO CALORIC STIMULATION

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Abstract
A review of the literature reveals great disagreement concerning the usefulness of caloric testing as a means of differentiating the vestibular responses of schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic subjects. The data reported here demonstrated no significant difference between adult schizophrenics and patients without mental disease as to duration of nystagmus, number of nystagmic beats or frequency of nystagmus following caloric stimulation. The interpretation of future investigations of vestibular function in schizophrenia will be aided by adequate characterization of the experimental groups, by consideration of the reliability of the test parameters used, and by distinguishing complete failure to respond to the stimulus from a response which is simply below normal. On the basis of the existing literature and the present study, it does not appear that a significant difference has been demonstrated between the speed or duration of nystagmus in adult schizophrenics and in normal controls following caloric stimulation.

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