Phenomenology and neurobiology of self disorder in schizophrenia: Secondary factors

Individual differences and motor planning influence self-recognition of actions

Although humans can recognize their body movements in point-light displays, self-recognition ability varies substantially across action types and participants. Are these variations primarily due to an awareness of visually distinct movement patterns, or to underlying factors related to motoric planning and/or individual differences? To address this question, we conducted a large-scale study in self-action recognition (N = 101). We motion captured whole-body movements of participants who performed 27 different actions across action goals and degree of motor planning. After a long delay period (~ 1 month), participants were tested in a self-recognition task: identifying their point-light action amongst three other point-light actors performing identical actions. We report a self-advantage effect from point-light actions, consistent with prior work in self-action recognition. Further, we found that self-recognition was modulated by the action complexity (associated with the degree of motor planning in performed actions) and individual differences linked to motor imagery and subclinical autism and schizotypy. Using dynamic time warping, we found sparse evidence in support of visual distinctiveness as a primary contributor to self-recognition, though speed distinctiveness negatively influenced self-recognition performance. Together, our results reveal that self-action recognition involves more than an awareness of visually distinct movements, with important implications for how the motor system may be involved.

Arthur Schopenhauer: An underappreciated philosopher in psychiatry and his applied epistemology of body and self- experience

BACKGROUND

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the most important thinkers of the 19th century. Although his writings have exerted great influence in many different disciplines, his epistemological concepts and analysis of the body and self-experience were rarely considered in the context of psychiatric research of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and depression (MDD).

METHODS

The method applied for the study of anomalous self and body-experience first consists in the close reading and analysis of Schopenhauer's most influential writings, namely his opus magnus "The World as Will and Representation" and his dissertation "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason". Second, psychopathological and phenomenological aspects of the anomalous body and self, as well as altered space and time experience, are discussed by means of Schopenhauer's philosophy and four patient cases.

RESULTS

Schopenhauer's insights contribute to contemporary psychiatry by (1) unifying materialistic (neurobiological) and idealistic (subjective) conceptions of psychiatric disorders and improving the awareness of methods in psychiatric research; (2) emphasizing the integral significance of the body as a gateway to the surrounding world and basal self-experience; (3) delineating subjective space and time-experience as crucial dimensions of the conditio humana in SSD and MDD; and (4) demonstrating the feasibility of transferring his theories directly to clinical case vignettes stemming from the daily clinical routine.

CONCLUSION

Close reading of Schopenhauer's texts might help bridge the gap between different scientific methods in psychiatry and overcome the translational crisis of contemporary psychiatry by unifying neurobiological and subjective approaches to SSD and MDD.

Interplay between childhood trauma, bodily self-disturbances, and clinical phenomena in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A network analysis

BACKGROUND

Bodily self-disturbances have long been considered central to schizophrenia. Exposure to childhood trauma has been linked to the development of both psychosis and bodily self-disturbances, yet little work has examined the role of bodily self-disturbances in the relationship between childhood trauma and schizophrenia symptomatology. This study uses network analysis to bridge this gap.

METHODS

Networks were constructed to examine relationships between schizophrenia symptoms (Positive and Negative Symptom Scale; PANSS), bodily self-disturbances (Perceptual Aberration Scale; PAS), and self-reported exposure to childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Short-Form; CTQ-SF) in 152 people with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. Shortest path and bridge analyses were conducted to assess the role of bodily self-disturbances in linking childhood trauma to schizophrenia symptomatology. Three networks were constructed: 1) PAS, childhood trauma, and PANSS sub-scale composites (positive, negative, general); 2) PAS, childhood trauma, and positive symptoms, 3) PAS, childhood trauma, and distress symptoms.

RESULTS

Shortest path analysis revealed that bodily self-disturbances were on the shortest path between childhood trauma and positive and general symptoms (Network 1), between trauma and hallucinations (Network 2), and between trauma and depression (Network 3). Bodily self-disturbances were also found to serve as a bridge between childhood trauma and positive symptoms of schizophrenia, particularly delusions and hallucinations.

CONCLUSIONS

Using a novel, data-driven approach, we showed that bodily self-disturbances play a key role in linking childhood trauma to positive and co-morbid affective symptoms of schizophrenia. Threat experiences (i.e., abuse) specifically relate to bodily self-disturbances and psychotic symptoms.

Self-Disorder in Schizophrenia: A Revised View (1. Comprehensive Review-Dualities of Self- and World-Experience)

A growing body of research supports the role of self-disorders as core phenotypic features of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Self-disorders comprise various alterations of conscious experience whose theoretical understanding continues to present a challenge. The following 2 articles aim to provide further clarification of the nature of self-disorders in schizophrenia by offering a comprehensive review (article 1) and theoretical revision (article 2) of the currently most influential model of altered selfhood in schizophrenia: the basic-self-disturbance or ipseity-disorder model (IDM). This article presents a state-of-the-art overview of the current self-disturbance model and critically assesses its descriptive adequacy with respect to the clinical variability and heterogeneity of the alterations in self- and world-awareness characteristic of schizophrenia. Special attention is paid to experiences of exaggerated basic self, increased "grip" or "hold" on the world, and paradoxical combinations. The next article proposes a theoretical revision of the self-disturbance model by considering how hyperreflexivity might form the crucial common thread or generating factor that unifies the phenomenologically heterogeneous, and sometimes even contradictory features of schizophrenic self-disorders. We outline the implications of our revised model for explanatory research, therapeutic practice, and our general understanding of the abnormalities in question.

Network Structure of Childhood Trauma, Bodily Disturbances, and Schizotypy in Schizophrenia and Nonclinical Controls

Background and Hypothesis

Exposure to childhood trauma has been linked to the development of psychosis and bodily self-disturbances, 2 hallmarks of schizophrenia (SZ). Prior work demonstrated that bodily disturbances serve as a bridge between childhood trauma and SZ symptomatology, but the diagnostic specificity of these connections remains unknown. This study uses network analysis to bridge this gap by comparing the interplays between childhood trauma, bodily self-disturbances, and schizotypy in clinical and general populations.

Study Design

Networks were constructed to examine the relationships between schizotypy (Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire; SPQ), bodily self-disturbances (Perceptual Aberration Scale; PAS), and childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ) in 152 people with SZ and 162 healthy comparison participants (HC). The Fused Graphical Lasso was used to jointly estimate the networks in the 2 groups and the structure and strength of the networks were compared. Node centrality and shortest paths between CTQ, PAS, and schizotypy were examined.

Study Results

When comparing SZ and HC, the network of bodily self-disturbances, childhood trauma, and schizotypy were similarly structured, but the network was significantly stronger in SZ than HC. In both groups, bodily self-disturbances were on one of the shortest paths between childhood trauma to schizotypal experiences.

Conclusions

Our findings revealed reliable associations between childhood trauma, bodily self-disturbance, and schizotypy, with bodily disturbances acting as a bridge from childhood trauma to schizotypy. The elevated strength of the SZ network indicates a more highly interconnected, and therefore reactive network in which exposure to childhood trauma can more easily activate bodily disturbances and schizotypy.

Obsessive-compulsive existential type: a dialectical-phenomenological approach

The clinical presentation of obsessive-compulsive patients is characterized by unwanted, intrusive, nonsensical, self-related, and recurrent ideas, thoughts, images, or impulses associated with active compulsive compensations. Under the operational diagnostic criteria adopted by the biological- and cognitive-oriented neopositivist medical paradigm, it is known as "obsessive-compulsive disorder." However, this paradigm has been criticized for its controversial assumptions, limited methodologies, theoretic biases, and inconsistency in producing practical outcomes. To bypass some of these issues, we propose a complementary approach that draws on and further develops existing psychopathological studies of the obsessive-compulsive anthropological condition based on dialectical phenomenological psychopathology. As such, we refer to the global clinical configuration as the "obsessive-compulsive existential type." Our theoretical inspiration comes from the classical phenomenological work on obsessions undertaken by Straus and Gebsattel, which identified the negative transformation of the obsessive-compulsive life-world or the endogenous emergence of the anti-eidos (diluting existential force). We then propose to broaden the concept of anti-eidos, especially in its dialectical correlation with eidos (unifying existential force), representing the existential dialectic between transformation and permanence. Next, we detail the dynamics of anthropological disproportions in obsessive-compulsive existential type, essentially the supremacy of the anti-eidos over the eidos. This primary imbalance modifies the obsessive-compulsive existential structure, consisting of polymorphic temporality; weakened intentionality; maladjusted calibration of distance with the world and others; an integral, isolated, besieged self with dwindling self-agency, and tense and over-protecting embodiment. We also analyze compensatory hyperreflexivity and compulsive rituals as expressions of structural counterbalancing designed to contain the primary structural disproportions and derangements. The heterogeneous obsessive-compulsive clinical manifestations are the complex result of the primary structural alteration and subsequent phenomenological compensations. They tend to be variable in temporal span and rarely assume a fixed form, hindering diagnosis. We correlate structural frameworks with multiple clinical examples. Finally, we raise some insights on how our study may contribute to scientific research and therapeutic proposals.

[Spatiotemporal psychopathology-German version of the Scale for Space and Time Experience in Psychosis (STEP) : A validated measurement instrument for the assessment of spatial and temporal experience in psychotic disorders]

Historical authors (e.g., Ludwig Binswanger and Eugène Minkowski) postulated that the experience of patients with schizophrenia is characterized by time fragmentation. From a clinical perspective, patients with schizophrenia also suffer from difficulties in spatial perception (e.g., abnormalities in the experience of interpersonal distance and spatial orientation). Although these changes can lead to a serious detachment from reality, to considerable suffering of the affected persons and to difficulties in the therapeutic process, the abnormal experience of space and time in psychotic disorders has not yet been sufficiently investigated. One possible reason is the lack of appropriate and standardized instruments that quantify the experience of space and time in patients with psychotic disorders. Based on an innovative concept, the so-called spatiotemporal psychopathology (STPP), a clinical rating scale for the systematic-quantitative assessment of spatial and temporal experience in patients with psychotic disorders was developed. This article presents the German version of the Scale for Space and Time Experience in Psychosis (STEP). The original English version of the STEP measures different spatial (14 phenomena) and temporal (11 phenomena) phenomena in 25 items. The STEP shows both a high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94) and a significant correlation with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS; p < 0.001). In summary, the German version of the STEP scale presented here represents an important instrument in the German-speaking countries for the assessment of spatial and temporal experience in patients with psychotic disorders.

Basic self-disturbance trajectories in clinical high risk for psychosis: a one-year follow-up study

Basic self-disturbance (BSD) has been proposed as a driver of symptom development in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). In a one-year follow-up of 32 patients (15-30 years) at putative risk for psychosis, we investigated trajectories of BSD levels from baseline to follow-up, and associations between clinical characteristics at baseline and follow-up, including follow-up levels of BSD (assessed with the EASE). Clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis status and symptom severity were assessed with the SIPS/SOPS scales and also according to the cognitive basic symptoms high-risk criteria (COGDIS). DSM-IV diagnoses, functioning and other clinical characteristics were assessed with standard clinical instruments. Higher severity of negative symptoms and meeting COGDIS criteria at baseline were associated with higher BSD levels at follow-up. All measured at follow-up, higher BSD levels correlated with higher severity of positive, negative, disorganization and general symptoms, and with a lower level of global functioning. We found higher BSD levels at follow-up in subjects with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) at baseline (n = 5) and in SSDs at follow-up (n = 12, including nine with SPD). Mean BSD levels decreased significantly from baseline to follow-up, but individual trajectories varied considerably. Increased BSD levels were associated with higher baseline BSD levels, non-remission of positive symptoms and functional decline. Overall, the current study indicates that subgroups in the CHR population with a higher risk of non-remission or deterioration may be identified by supplementing CHR criteria with assessment of BSD and negative symptoms.

Integrating trauma, self-disturbances, cognitive biases, and personality into a model for the risk of psychosis: a longitudinal study in a non-clinical sample

The hypothesis of the psychosis continuum enables to study the mechanisms of psychosis risk not only in clinical samples but in non-clinical as well. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate self-disturbances (SD), a risk factor that has attracted substantial interest over the last two decades, in combination with trauma, cognitive biases and personality, and to test whether SD are associated with subclinical positive symptoms (PS) over a 12-month follow-up period. Our study was conducted in a non-clinical sample of 139 Polish young adults (81 females, age M = 25.32, SD = 4.51) who were selected for frequent experience of subclinical PS. Participants completed self-report questionnaires for the evaluation of SD (IPASE), trauma (CECA.Q), cognitive biases (DACOBS) and personality (TCI), and were interviewed for subclinical PS (CAARMS). SD and subclinical PS were re-assessed 12 months after baseline measurement. The hypothesized model for psychosis risk was tested using path analysis. The change in SD and subclinical PS over the 12-month period was investigated with non-parametric equivalent of dependent sample t-tests. The models with self-transcendence (ST) and harm avoidance (HA) as personality variables were found to be well-fitted and explained 34% of the variance in subclinical PS at follow-up. Moreover, we found a significant reduction of SD and subclinical PS after 12 months. Our study suggests that combining trauma, cognitive biases, SD and personality traits such as ST and HA into one model can enhance our understanding of appearance as well as maintenance of subclinical PS.

Basic self-disturbance in subjects at clinical high risk for psychosis: Relationship with clinical and functional outcomes at one year follow-up

Basic self-disturbance (BSD) is assumed to drive symptom development in schizophrenia spectrum disorders and in clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis. We investigated the relationship between BSD at baseline, assessed with the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE), and symptoms and functional outcome after one year in 32 patients, including 26 CHR and six with non-progressive attenuated psychotic symptoms. Correlations between baseline BSD levels and positive, negative and disorganization symptoms, and global functioning level at follow-up were significant. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that higher levels of baseline BSD predicted more severe positive symptoms and lower global functioning at follow-up, after adjusting for baseline positive symptoms and functioning. Subjects who were not in symptomatic and functional remission after one year had higher levels of BSD and negative symptoms, and lower functioning level, at baseline. Baseline BSD in participants with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses at follow-up (9 of 12 were schizotypal personality disorder) were at the levels seen in schizotypal disorders in previous studies, but not significantly different from the other participants. Early identification and assessment of BSD may constitute a useful prognostic tool and a signal for therapeutic targets in CHR conditions. Further CHR studies investigating these relationships with larger samples are recommended.

The Indirect Effect of Trauma via Cognitive Biases and Self-Disturbances on Psychotic-Like Experiences

Although self-disturbances (SD) are considered to be a core psychopathological feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, there is still insufficient empirical data on the mechanisms underlying these anomalous self-experiences. The aim of the present study was to test a hypothesized model in which cognitive biases and exposure to traumatic life events are related to the frequency of SD which, in turn, contribute to the frequency of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Our sample consisted of 193 Polish young adults from the general population (111 females; 18-35 years of age, M = 25.36, SD = 4.69) who experience frequent PLEs. Participants were interviewed for PLEs, SD and social functioning as well as completed self-reported questionnaires and behavioral tasks that measure cognitive biases (e.g., safety behaviors, attention to threat, external attribution, jumping to conclusion, source monitoring, overperceptualization). The model was tested using path analysis with structural equation modeling. All of the hypothesized relationships were statistically significant and our model fit the data well [χ²(23) = 31.201; p = 0.118; RMSEA = 0.043 (90% CI = 0.00-0.078), CFI = 0.985, SRMR = 0.041, TLI = 0.976]. The results revealed a significant indirect effect of traumatic life events on PLEs through SD and self-reported cognitive biases. However, performance-based cognitive biases measured with three behavioral tasks were unrelated to SD and PLEs. The frequency of SD explained a substantial part (43.1%) of the variance in PLEs. Further studies with longitudinal designs and clinical samples are required to verify the predictive value of the model.

Resting-state functional EEG connectivity in salience and default mode networks and their relationship to dissociative symptoms during NMDA receptor antagonism

N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists administered to healthy humans results in schizophrenia-like symptoms, which are thought in part to be related to glutamatergically altered electrophysiological connectivity in large-scale intrinsic functional brain networks. Here, we examine resting-state source electroencephalographic (EEG) connectivity within and between the default mode (DMN: for self-related cognitive activity) and salience networks (SN: for detection of salient stimuli in internal and external environments) in 21 healthy volunteers administered a subanesthetic dose of the dissociative anesthetic and NMDAR antagonist, ketamine. In addition to provoking symptoms of dissociation, which are thought to originate from an altered sense of self that is common to schizophrenia, ketamine induces frequency-dependent increases and decreases in connectivity within and between DMN and SN. These altered interactive network couplings together with emergent dissociative symptoms tentatively support an NMDAR-hypofunction hypothesis of disturbed electrophysiologic connectivity in schizophrenia.

Reconfiguration of Dynamic Functional Connectivity in Sensory and Perceptual System in Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is thought as a self-disorder with dysfunctional brain connectivity. This self-disorder is often attributed to high-order cognitive impairment. Yet due to the frequent report of sensorial and perceptual deficits, it has been hypothesized that self-disorder in schizophrenia is dysfunctional communication between sensory and cognitive processes. To further verify this assumption, the present study comprehensively examined dynamic reconfigurations of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in schizophrenia at voxel level, region level, and network levels (102 patients vs. 124 controls). We found patients who show consistently increased rsFC variability in sensory and perceptual system, including visual network, sensorimotor network, attention network, and thalamus at all the three levels. However, decreased variability in high-order networks, such as default mode network and frontal-parietal network were only consistently observed at region and network levels. Taken together, these findings highlighted the rudimentary role of elevated instability of information communication in sensory and perceptual system and attenuated whole-brain integration of high-order network in schizophrenia, which provided novel neural evidence to support the hypothesis of disrupted perceptual and cognitive function in schizophrenia. The foci of effects also highlighted that targeting perceptual deficits can be regarded as the key to enhance our understanding of pathophysiology in schizophrenia and promote new treatment intervention.

Reduced activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during self-referential processing in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis

OBJECTIVE

Defects in self-referential processing and perspective-taking are core characteristics that may underlie psychotic symptoms and impaired social cognition in schizophrenia. Here, we investigated the neural correlates of self-referential processing regardless of the perspective taken and third-person perspective-taking regardless of the target person to judge relevance in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis. We also explored relationships between alterations in neural activity and neurocognitive function and basic self ('ipseity') disorder.

METHODS

Twenty-two ultra-high-risk individuals and 28 healthy controls completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging task. While being scanned, participants were asked to take a first-person perspective or to put themselves in their close relative's place thereby adopting a third-person perspective during judgments of the relevance of personality trait adjectives to one's self and a close relative.

RESULTS

For self-referential (vs other-referential) processing, ultra-high-risk individuals showed less neural activity in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex/medial orbitofrontal cortex, which was correlated with poor working memory performance. When taking a third-person perspective (vs first-person perspective), ultra-high-risk individuals showed more activity in the middle occipital gyrus.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, our findings suggest that ultra-high-risk individuals already show aberrant neural activity during self-referential processing which may possibly be related to engagement of working memory resources.

Impaired action self-monitoring and cognitive confidence among ultra-high risk for psychosis and first-episode psychosis patients

Background

Self-monitoring biases and overconfidence in incorrect judgments have been suggested as playing a role in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Little is known about whether self-monitoring biases may contribute to early risk factors for psychosis. In this study, action self-monitoring (i.e., discrimination between imagined and performed actions) was investigated, along with confidence in judgments among ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis individuals and first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients.

Methods

Thirty-six UHR for psychosis individuals, 25 FEP patients and 33 healthy controls (CON) participated in the study. Participants were assessed with the Action memory task. Simple actions were presented to participants verbally or non-verbally. Some actions were required to be physically performed and others were imagined. Participants were asked whether the action was presented verbally or non-verbally (action presentation type discrimination), and whether the action was performed or imagined (self-monitoring). Confidence self-ratings related to self-monitoring responses were obtained.

Results

The analysis of self-monitoring revealed that both UHR and FEP groups misattributed imagined actions as being performed (i.e., self-monitoring errors) significantly more often than the CON group. There were no differences regarding performed actions as being imagined. UHR and FEP groups made their false responses with higher confidence in their judgments than the CON group. There were no group differences regarding discrimination between the types of actions presented (verbal vs non-verbal).

Conclusions

A specific type of self-monitoring bias (i.e., misattributing imagined actions with performed actions), accompanied by high confidence in this judgment, may be a risk factor for the subsequent development of a psychotic disorder.

Basic self-disturbances independently predict recovery in psychotic disorders: A seven year follow-up study

BACKGROUND

Recovery is the ultimate goal of psychosis treatment. Basic self-disturbances (BSDs) are non-psychotic phenomena associated with clinical outcome, present in prodromal, psychotic and residual phases of psychotic disorders.

AIM

To investigate the relationship between BSDs and recovery seven years after first treatment in patients with psychotic disorders.

METHOD

Prospective longitudinal study of 56 patients recruited during first adequate treatment for schizophrenia (n = 35) and other psychotic disorders (n = 21) (psychotic bipolar disorder, delusional disorder, psychotic disorder NOS). At baseline and follow-up BSDs were assessed using the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE) manual, while standard clinical instruments were used to ascertained diagnosis, clinical symptom severity, and functioning. Recovery was defined as absence of psychotic symptoms and regaining of functioning that persisted the last two years before follow-up.

RESULTS

At follow up, 34% achieved recovery (5 (14%) with schizophrenia and 14 (67%) with other psychoses at baseline). Recovery was predicted by an absence of a schizophrenia diagnosis, low baseline level of BSDs and further reductions in BSDs from baseline to follow-up. Change in BSDs was the strongest predictor, also after adjusting for premorbid adjustment and duration of untreated psychosis, and was not confounded by diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Low baseline levels of basic self-disturbances and further reductions over time independently predict recovery seven years later in first treated psychosis patients.

Anomalous self-experiences are strongly associated with negative symptoms in a clinical high-risk for psychosis sample

OBJECTIVE

Anomalous self-experiences (ASE) are considered as central features of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders and prodromal schizophrenia. We investigated total and single-item prevalence of these phenomena in a clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis sample, and associations with conventional psychosis-risk symptoms, present and childhood global/psychosocial functioning, and childhood trauma.

METHODS

The sample (n = 38) included 31 CHR, according to ultra-high risk or cognitive basic symptoms (COGDIS) criteria, and seven with non-progressive attenuated positive symptoms. Psychopathological evaluations included the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE), Structured Clinical Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS), Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument - Adult (SPI-A) (only the COGDIS-criteria), a diagnostic interview (SCID-I), Global Assessment of Functioning - Split version (S-GAF), Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS) and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ).

RESULTS

The mean total EASE score was in line with reports from other CHR samples, and was particularly enhanced in schizotypal personality disorder and in subjects fulfilling COGDIS-criteria. The four most frequent EASE-items were present in two-thirds or more of the participants. EASE total was significantly associated with negative and disorganization symptoms. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the level of negative symptoms explained most of the variance in EASE total.

CONCLUSIONS

These results corroborates other findings that anomalous self-experiences are frequent and important features in CHR conditions and in the schizophrenia spectrum. The strong associations with negative symptoms and cognitive disturbances (COGDIS) should be investigated in longitudinal studies to address causality, psychopathological pathways and schizophrenia spectrum specificity. The weaker correlation between EASE total and positive symptoms may partly be related to a restricted range of positive symptoms.

Stability in basic self-disturbances and diagnosis in a first treated psychosis: A seven year follow-up study

BACKGROUND

Basic self-disturbances (BSDs) are considered core features of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and are present in the prodromal, early psychotic and chronic phases. Considerable levels of BSDs are also present at first treatment in some patients with psychotic disorders outside the schizophrenia spectrum. There is limited knowledge about the stability of self-disturbances over time.

AIM

To explore the stability of BSDs in a seven-year follow-up of first treatment patients, and the association between baseline levels and changes in BSDs and diagnostic changes at follow-up.

METHOD

Longitudinal study of 56 patients (35 schizophrenia and 21 non-schizophrenia) recruited at their first treatment for a psychotic disorder. BSDs were assessed using the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE), while diagnostic categories, clinical symptom severity, and functioning were assessed with standard clinical instruments.

RESULTS

The schizophrenia group had significantly lower levels of BSDs at follow-up compared to baseline. The EASE domain "Cognition and stream of consciousness" was the most stable. There were no diagnostic changes into or out of schizophrenia spectrum. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher levels of BSDs both at baseline and at follow up than patients with psychotic disorders outside the schizophrenia spectrum, who showed stable low levels.

CONCLUSION

We found a decrease and thus less stability in BSDs in schizophrenia than expected. This might indicate that BSDs tent to weaken over time, and that unknown individual characteristics may influence the development of BSDs. Diagnostic stability from baseline to follow-up may be due to long DUP before service entry.

Parkinsonism is associated to fronto-caudate disconnectivity and cognition in schizophrenia

The present work studies the possible relation of parkinsonism and fronto-caudate dysconnectivity, as well as its relation to cognition in schizophrenia patients. We assessed parkinsonism using Simpson-Angus scale and prefronto-caudate connectivity using diffusion magnetic resonance in 22 schizophrenia patients (11 first-episodes) and 14 healthy controls. Fractional anisotropy was calculated for the white matter tracts directly linking rostral middle prefrontal (RMPF) and superior medial prefrontal (SMPF) regions with caudate nucleus. Cognition was assessed using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia Scale (BACS). Total parkinsonism scores were negatively related to fractional anisotropy in the right SMPF-caudate tract in patients, which was also found in the first-episode patients alone, but not in controls. Parkinsonism was also inversely associated in patients to performance in social cognition, verbal memory, working memory and performance speed tests. In conclusion, our data support the involvement of fronto-striatal dysconnectivity in parkinsonism in schizophrenia.

Varieties of Self Disorder: A Bio-Pheno-Social Model of Schizophrenia

The self-disorder model offers a unifying way of conceptualizing schizophrenia's highly diverse symptoms (positive, negative, disorganized), of capturing their distinctive bizarreness, and of conceiving their longitudinal development. These symptoms are viewed as differing manifestations of an underlying disorder of ipseity or core-self: hyper-reflexivity/diminished-self-presence with accompanying disturbances of "grip" or "hold" on reality. Recent revision to this phenomenological theory, in particular distinguishing primary-vs-secondary factors, offers a bio-pheno-social model that is consistent with recent empirical findings and offers several advantages: (1) It helps account for the temporal variations of the symptoms or syndrome, including longitudinal progression, but also the shorter-term, situationally reactive, and sometimes defensive or quasi-intentional variability of symptom-expression that can occur in schizophrenia (consistent with understanding some aspects of ipseity-disturbance as dynamic and mutable, involving shifting attitudes or experiential orientations). (2) It accommodates the overlapping of some key schizophrenic symptoms with certain nonschizophrenic conditions involving dissociation (depersonalization, derealization), including depersonalization disorder and panic disorder, thereby acknowledging both shared and distinguishing symptoms. (3) It integrates recent neurocognitive and neurobiological as well as psychosocial (eg, influence of trauma and culture) findings into a coherent but multi-factorial neuropsychological account. An adequate model of schizophrenia will postulate shared disturbances of core-self experiences that nevertheless can follow several distinct pathways and occur in various forms. Such a model is preferable to uni-dimensional alternatives-whether of schizophrenia or ipseity-disturbance-given its ability to account for distinctive yet varying experiential and neurocognitive abnormalities found in research on schizophrenia, and to integrate these with recent psychosocial and neurobiological findings.

The role of self-disturbances and cognitive biases in the relationship between traumatic life events and psychosis proneness in a non-clinical sample

BACKGROUND

Traumatic life events have been established as an environmental risk factor for psychosis. However, the exact mechanisms by which traumatic life events increase risk for psychosis are unknown. In the present study we tested an integrative model of traumatic life events being related to psychosis proneness via self-disturbances and cognitive biases.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 653 healthy people. Traumatic life events, self-disturbances, cognitive biases and psychosis proneness were assessed with self-report questionnaires. The direct and an indirect model of the relationship between traumatic life events and psychosis proneness were compared using path analyses with structural equation modelling in a cross-sectional study.

RESULTS

There was a significant direct effect of traumatic life events on psychosis proneness. However, path analysis suggested better fit of the indirect model including paths from trauma to psychosis proneness via cognitive biases and self-disturbances. There were significant paths from traumatic life events to cognitive biases and self-disorders. Self-disorders significantly predicted cognitive biases. Finally, cognitive biases and self-disorders significantly predicted psychosis proneness. Exclusion of any paths, apart from direct path in the model, significantly reduced model fitness.

DISCUSSION

The results revealed that a direct relationship between trauma and psychosis proneness became insignificant when taking into account the influence of self-disorders and cognitive biases. This suggests that the interactions between disrupted self-experience, impaired information processing and traumatic life events are of importance in psychosis proneness. This model should be further tested in a longitudinal study on a clinical sample.

Anomalous Self-Experiences: Markers of Schizophrenia Vulnerability or Symptoms of Depersonalization Disorder? A Phenomenological Investigation of Two Cases

BACKGROUND

Basic self-disturbance (BSD) is proposed to constitute the clinical core of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, including prodromal states and schizotypy. Anomalous self-experiences (ASEs) are suggested as phenotypic variants of BSD, representing markers of schizophrenia vulnerability. However, ASEs are not restricted to the schizophrenia spectrum, but may also occur in non-psychotic states like depersonalization disorder (DPD). It is unclear to what extent the prevalence and nature of ASEs are differing between the two conditions. The main aim of this paper is to assess and compare ASEs in both conditions, based on literature and two illustrating cases. This might expand the understanding of these phenomena, and strengthen the basis for clinical differentiation.

METHODS

One patient with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) and one with DPD were selected from an ongoing clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis study. ASEs were assessed with the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE) and analyzed according to the two central dimensions of BSD: diminished self-affection and hyperreflexivity, as well as according to prototypical aspects of depersonalization. The cases were also analyzed and compared with respect to chronology, other symptomatology, and psychopathological pathways.

RESULTS

Both cases revealed ASEs reflecting the central dimensions of BSD as well as prototypical aspects of depersonalization. Only the SPD case however, linked ASEs to psychotic-like ideas of external influence and control. The symptoms had an insidious early childhood onset with no obvious triggers in the SPD case, and an abrupt adolescence onset triggered by second-time cannabis use and panic anxiety in the DPD case.

CONCLUSIONS

The similarities and differences in ASEs, symptomatology and developmental pathways of the two cases might be accounted for by an updated model of self-disorders. The model proposes that schizophrenia manifests as a result of a combination of early "primary"-onset ASEs, reflecting dis-turbances in early neurodevelopment, and later occurring, "secondary" ASEs of a more defensive-protective character. In line with this, the DPD case may be characterized only by secondary ASEs and thus better protected against psychotic decompensation than the SPD case, tentatively affected by a combination of primary and secondary ASEs.

Towards integrating phenomenology and neurocognition: Possible neurocognitive correlates of basic self-disturbance in schizophrenia

Phenomenological research indicates that disturbance of the basic sense of self may be a core phenotypic marker of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Basic self-disturbance refers to disruption of the sense of ownership of experience and agency of action and is associated with a variety of anomalous subjective experiences. Little is known about the neurocognitive correlates of basic self-disturbance. In this paper, we review recent phenomenological and neurocognitive research and point to a convergence of these approaches around the concept of self-disturbance. Specifically, we propose that subjective anomalies associated with basic self-disturbance may be associated with: 1. source monitoring deficits, which may contribute particularly to disturbances of “ownership” and “mineness” (the phenomenological notion of presence) and 2. aberrant salience, and associated disturbances of memory, prediction, and attention processes, which may contribute to hyper-reflexivity, disturbed “grip” or “hold” on the perceptual and conceptual field, and disturbances of intuitive social understanding (“common sense”). These two streams of research are reviewed in turn before considering ways forward in integrative models, particularly regarding the role of early neurodevelopmental disturbances, primary versus secondary disturbances, and the state versus trait nature of such pathology. Empirical studies are required in a variety of populations in order to test the proposed associations between phenomenological and neurocognitive aspects of self-disturbance in schizophrenia. An integration of findings across the phenomenological and neurocognitive domains would represent a significant advance in the understanding of schizophrenia and possibly enhance early identification and intervention strategies.

White matter integrity and symptom dimensions of schizophrenia: A diffusion tensor imaging study

Impaired fiber bundle connectivity between brain regions is a key neuropathological finding in schizophrenia. Symptom dimensions in schizophrenia can be clustered into factor models. Single syndromes have been related to grey and white matter brain structure alterations. We associated all core syndromes of schizophrenia in a single patient group with changes in white matter integrity. Diffusion weighted images (3T MRI) and SAPS/SANS scores were measured in 26 male patients and 26 healthy controls. First, group differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) were calculated with TBSS. Second, core symptom dimensions of schizophrenia were correlated with FA within these altered tracts. We found differences between groups in nine white matter tracts. Hallucinations were positively correlated with FA in the left uncinate fasciculus and left corticospinal tract. Ego-disturbances (passivity phenomena) showed a positive correlation with FA in the right anterior thalamic radiation. Positive formal thought disorders (FTD) corresponded negatively with FA in the right cingulum bundle. Negative symptoms were positively associated with the right anterior thalamic radiation and negatively with the right ventral cingulum bundle. For the first time, we analyzed the whole range of psychopathological factors in one schizophrenia patient group. We could validate our novel results for positive FTD and passivity phenomena by replicating findings for hallucinations and negative symptoms. Only those brain circuits which are most vulnerable at a given time during neurodevelopment are affected by a particular pathological impact (genetic, environmental). This scenario could explain the predominance of particular psychopathological syndromes related to specific white matter anomalies.