A VALIDATION OF PIOTROWSKI'S ALPHA FORMULA WITH SCHIZOPHRENICS VARYING IN DURATION OF ILLNESS

An attempt was made to determine if Piotrowski's alpha formula was, as he indicated, mainly applicable with early or mild psychotic states, or if it was equally effective with the more chronic disorders. Three groups of schizophrenics with mean lengths of hospitalization of 3 months, 4 years, and 13 years were tested on an individual Rorschach and a Shipley-Hartford. The results indicated that the formula was equally valid for all 3 groups and that a similar proportion of alpha Ss. was present in each of the groups. This suggests that the formula diagnoses a form of schizophrenia rather than a transient or mild stage of the disorder.

Although the alpha score was applicable to only 25% of the Ss. studied, all patients exceeded the score necessary to indicate the presence of a psychotic condition.