ABSTRACT
Pathological forms of cognition take the place of goal-directed, abstract thinking and a veridical representation of reality. Verbal communication with patients suffering from non-remitting schizophrenias and organic mental states is impeded by perseveration. In the case of the non-remitting schizophrenias, this disorder of thinking may be preceded or followed by utterances that occur in the colloquial and vernacular speech of the mentally healthy. Loss of perceptual constancy is commonplace in the schizophrenias and organic mental states. On the schizophrenias, D. Rapaport’s statement is clear and unequivocal: “The criterion of memory disorder is not whether there is retention but whether retained memories are available when necessary and appropriate”. In the dreams of the mentally healthy and in forms of pathological cognition the reversion to archaic types of cognitive organization is a primary event caused by the psychic dissolution that attends sleep and states of mental pathology.
