Schmid G B
Research Department, Psychiatric University Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland.
Psychopathology. 1991;24(4):185-98. doi: 10.1159/000284713.
Elementary aspects of the usefulness and impact of chaos theory to an understanding of schizophrenia are discussed. In addressing the question 'Is there chaos in schizophrenia?', attention is limited to schizophrenic psychosis. A differentiated view of chaos as metaphor, analogy and mathematical/physical concept is presented with emphasis upon how the latter may apply to empirical knowledge of schizophrenic psychosis. The typical behavior of both psychotic schizophrenic patients and general chaotic systems, and the dynamical analysis of time-series data extracted from such systems, are reviewed. A general hypothesis connecting chaos and schizophrenia is introduced and analyzed. Arguments are provided in favor of the hypothesis at sociological, psychological, and biological scales of manifestation. This makes possible a model-independent 'chaos theory approach' to schizophrenia and the criteria necessary to test it. Some consequences of this approach are briefly considered. The original question is rephrased with the technical language of chaos theory: 'Are chaotic attractors diagnostic markers for schizophrenia?' or 'Is schizophrenia a dynamical disease?'. A few implications of viewing schizophrenia as a dynamical disease are discussed.
本文讨论了混沌理论在理解精神分裂症方面的实用性和影响的基本方面。在探讨“精神分裂症中是否存在混沌？”这一问题时，关注点仅限于精神分裂症性精神病。文中呈现了对混沌作为隐喻、类比和数学/物理概念的差异化观点，并着重阐述了后者如何应用于精神分裂症性精神病的实证知识。回顾了精神分裂症性精神病患者和一般混沌系统的典型行为，以及从此类系统中提取的时间序列数据的动力学分析。引入并分析了一个将混沌与精神分裂症联系起来的一般假设。从社会学、心理学和生物学表现尺度提供了支持该假设的论据。这使得一种独立于模型的精神分裂症“混沌理论方法”及其检验所需标准成为可能。简要考虑了这种方法的一些后果。用混沌理论的专业语言重新表述了最初的问题：“混沌吸引子是精神分裂症的诊断标志物吗？”或者“精神分裂症是一种动力学疾病吗？”。讨论了将精神分裂症视为动力学疾病的一些含义。
