The adolescent psychiatric patient with processing deficiencies: some personality characteristics and treatment strategies.
The relationship between perceptual processing and psychiatric conditions is of expanding clinical significance, and the two may be related because of the influence of processing on ego development. Adolescent psychiatric patients with processing difficulties demonstrate some unusual personality characteristics and modes of thought, including a replacement orientation (each event or relationship replaces another) rather than an additive orientation; omnivalence (all interests and relationships have equal attraction), and synecdochism. Special treatment strategies for such patients are suggested, which include: redaction in psychotherapy, a tracking system for scheduling, and reduction of the stimulus level in living arrangements.