Poster #M180 BEHAVIORAL MONITORING DEFICITS IN SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER: DECREASED ERN AS A TRAIT MARKER OF SCHIZOPHRENIA-SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Background: : Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) is a cluster A personality disorder affecting 1.0% of general population, characterised by disturbances in cognition and reality testing dimensions, affect regulation, and interpersonal function. SPD shares similar but attenuated phenomenological, genetic, and neurobiological abnormalities with schizophrenia (SCZ) and is described as part of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Objective: Aim of this work was to identify the major neural correlates of SPD. Methods: This is a systematic review conducted according to PRISMA statement. The protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO - International prospective register of systematic reviews. The review was performed to summarise the most comprehensive and updated evidence on functional neuroimaging and neurophysiology findings obtained through different techniques (DW-MRI, DTI, PET, SPECT, fMRI, MRS, EEG) in individuals with SPD. Results: Of the 52 studies included in this review, 9 were on DW-MRI and DTI, 11 were on PET and SPECT, 11 were on fMRI and MRS, and 21 were on EEG. It was complex to synthesise all the functional abnormalities found into a single, unified, pathogenetic pathway, but a common theme emerged: the dysfunction of brain circuits including striatal, frontal, temporal, limbic regions (and their networks) together with a dysregulation along the dopaminergic pathways. Conclusion: Brain abnormalities in SPD are similar, but less marked, than those found in SCZ. Furthermore, different patterns of functional abnormalities in SPD and SCZ have been found, confirming the previous literature on the ‘presence’ of possible compensatory factors, protecting individuals with SPD from frank psychosis and providing diagnostic specificity.

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The impact of schizotypy on pragmatics

Cadernos de Estudos Lingüísticos ◽

10.20396/cel.v62i0.8658759 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 62 ◽

pp. e020014

Author(s):

Monica de Freitas Frias Chaves ◽

Cilene Rodrigues

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Contextual Information ◽

Brazilian Portuguese ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Semantic Meaning ◽

General Hypothesis ◽

Schizotypal Personality ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

The Impact

High levels of linguistic referential failures are associated with liability to develop schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and it has been shown that these failures can differentiate healthy subjects, high-schizotypal and schizophrenics groups. Nevertheless, few investigations have focused on whether or not schizotypal traits in nonclinical populations can also impact linguistic reference. In Brazilian Portuguese, only one previous study (acceptability judgements task) had been conducted, and its results suggest association between schizotypal traits and a more rigid preference for assignment of specific readings to definite singular DPs. Here, we present another experimental study in Brazilian Portuguese, a comprehension task designed to examine possible effects of schizotypal personality traits on the interpretation of definite singular DPs. The findings, in line with the previous results, support the conclusion that schizotypy does affect the interpretation of definite singular DPs in Brazilian Portuguese. Together, these two experiments suggest that schizotypal personality traits impact the integration of linguistic contextual information into the semantic meaning of definite DPs. This is consistent with the general hypothesis that schizotypy, similarly to schizophrenia, is associated with pragmatic difficulties. Yet, our results emphasize that the impact of schizotypal traits on pragmatics can be observed even in healthy (nonclinical) speakers.

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A multinational case−control study comparing forensic and non-forensic patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: the EU-VIORMED project

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291721003433 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Giovanni de Girolamo ◽

Laura Iozzino ◽

Clarissa Ferrari ◽

Pawel Gosek ◽

Janusz Heitzman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Interpersonal Violence ◽

Case Control Study ◽

Case Control ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Forensic Patients ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

History Of ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Control Study

Abstract Background The relationship between schizophrenia and violence is complex. The aim of this multicentre case–control study was to examine and compare the characteristics of a group of forensic psychiatric patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorders and a history of significant interpersonal violence to a group of patients with the same diagnosis but no lifetime history of interpersonal violence. Method Overall, 398 patients (221 forensic and 177 non-forensic patients) were recruited across five European Countries (Italy, Germany, Poland, Austria and the United Kingdom) and assessed using a multidimensional standardised process. Results The most common primary diagnosis in both groups was schizophrenia (76.4%), but forensic patients more often met criteria for a comorbid personality disorder, almost always antisocial personality disorder (49.1 v. 0%). The forensic patients reported lower levels of disability and better social functioning. Forensic patients were more likely to have been exposed to severe violence in childhood. Education was a protective factor against future violence as well as higher levels of disability, lower social functioning and poorer performances in cognitive processing speed tasks, perhaps as proxy markers of the negative syndrome of schizophrenia. Forensic patients were typically already known to services and in treatment at the time of their index offence, but often poorly compliant. Conclusions This study highlights the need for general services to stratify patients under their care for established violence risk factors, to monitor patients for poor compliance and to intervene promptly in order to prevent severe violent incidents in the most clinically vulnerable.

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Understanding the Influence of Personality Traits on Risk of Suicidal Behaviour in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10194604 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (19) ◽

pp. 4604

Author(s):

Manuel Canal-Rivero ◽

Rosa Ayesa-Arriola ◽

Esther Setién-Suero ◽

Benedicto Crespo-Facorro ◽

Celso Arango ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Suicidal Behaviour ◽

Selection Criteria ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Related Factors ◽

Schizotypal Personality ◽

Premature Deaths ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders

Risk of suicidal behaviour (SB) in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) is a major concern, particularly in early stages of the illness, when suicide accounts for a high number of premature deaths. Although some risk factors for SB in SSD are well understood, the extent to which personality traits may affect this risk remains unclear, which may have implications for prevention. We conducted a systematic review of previous studies indexed in MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Embase examining the relationship between personality traits and SB in samples of patients with SSD. Seven studies fulfilled predetermined selection criteria. Harm avoidance, passive-dependent, schizoid and schizotypal personality traits increased the risk of SB, while self-directedness, cooperativeness, excluding persistence and self-transcendence acted as protective factors. Although only seven studies were retrieved from three major databases after applying predetermined selection criteria, we found some evidence to support that personality issues may contribute to SB in patients with SSD. Personality traits may therefore become part of routine suicide risk assessment and interventions targeting these personality-related factors may contribute to prevention of SB in SSD.

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The Relationship Between Multisensory Temporal Processing and Schizotypal Traits

10.31234/osf.io/79hdz ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tyler C. Dalal ◽

Anne-Marie Muller ◽

Ryan A Stevenson

Keyword(s):

Temporal Processing ◽

Temporal Order Judgment ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Magical Thinking ◽

Schizotypal Personality ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

The Relationship

Recent literature has suggested that atypical sensory processing observed in schizophrenia may contribute to clinical symptomatology. Specifically, multisensory temporal processing was shown to be strongly associated with hallucination severity. Here, we explored whether this relationship extends to a broader spectrum of schizotypal traits, in line with the DSM-5’s shift towards a more dimensional approach to diagnostic criteria within Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders. Fifty-one participants completed an audiovisual temporal order judgment task as a measure of multisensory temporal processing and self-reported levels of schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. These data revealed two novel findings. First, less precise multisensory temporal processing was related to higher overall levels of schizotypal traits. Second, this relationship was specific to the cognitive-perceptual domain, and more specifically, the Unusual Perceptual Experiences and Odd Beliefs or Magical Thinking measures. Previous literature has shown that less precise multisensory temporal processing was related to the severity of hallucinations in schizophrenia. These findings provide a novel, direct extension of this previous work by demonstrating that this relationship applies to traits across the schizophrenia spectrum, including at the subclinical level.

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A Recurrent Question: What Is Borderline?

Journal of Personality Disorders ◽

10.1521/pedi_2018_32_348 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 341-369 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Maja Zandersen ◽

Mads Gram Henriksen ◽

Josef Parnas

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Diagnostic Category ◽

The United States ◽

Borderline Personality ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Similar Tendency ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

The Status ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Conceptual Difficulties

The status of borderline personality disorder (BPD) as a diagnostic category is a matter of continuing controversy. In the United States, BPD is one of the most frequent diagnoses of psychiatric inpatients, and a similar tendency emerges in Europe. Nearly all theoretical aspects of BPD have been questioned, including its very position as a personality disorder. In this article, we trace the evolution of the borderline concept from the beginning of the 20th century to the current psychometric research. We argue that the status of BPD is fraught with conceptual difficulties, including an unrecognized semantic drift of major phenomenological terms (e.g., identity), a lack of general principles for the distinction of BPD and the major psychiatric syndromes (e.g., schizophrenia spectrum disorders), and insufficient definitions of key nosological concepts. These difficulties illustrate general problems in today's psychiatry that require consideration.

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Schizoaffective and schizotypal disorders

New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry ◽

10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0080 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 595-602

Author(s):

Ming T. Tsuang ◽

William S. Stone ◽

Stephen V. Faraone

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Schizoaffective Disorder ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Diagnostic Category ◽

Schizotypal Personality Disorder ◽

Schizotypal Personality ◽

Intervention Treatment ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Patient Will

This chapter focuses on two disorders in the schizophrenia ‘spectrum’: schizoaffective disorder and schizotypal personality disorder. The emphasis includes the clinical features, classification, diagnosis, epidemiology, aetiology, course, prognosis, and possibilities for prevention for each disorder. Some aspects will be underscored to reflect controversial issues, such as the heterogeneity apparent in each condition. Such issues relate to the accurate classification of the disorders, which is important for at least two reasons. First, it is essential to develop reliable and valid diagnostic criteria in order to study the aetiology of the disorders and then utilize that knowledge to develop rational and testable intervention strategies. Heterogeneity adds variance to the process that reduces both the reliability of diagnosis and also the statistical power of experimental designs to detect intervention/treatment effects. Second, the development of newer generations of psychopharmacological treatments holds the promise of matching more appropriate and efficacious medications with specific syndromes or types of symptoms. This trend underscores the importance of differential diagnosis in determining what treatment a patient will receive. Heterogeneity within a diagnostic category complicates achievement of this goal. Another area to be emphasized involves the goal of early interventions, in addition to palliative treatments for these disorders. In contrast, other areas such as the genetic aetiology of schizoaffective disorder and schizotypal personality disorder, and treatments for schizoaffective disorder, will receive less emphasis here, to avoid redundancies with other chapters in this volume. Each disorder will be considered separately, starting with a review of schizoaffective disorder, the more severe of the two spectrum conditions.

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The Neurobiology and Genetics of Schizotypal Personality Disorder

10.1093/med/9780199362318.003.0012 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel R. Rosell ◽

Larry J. Siever

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

General Population ◽

Schizotypal Personality Disorder ◽

Diagnosis And Treatment ◽

Imaging Findings ◽

Schizotypal Personality ◽

Novel Therapeutics ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Laboratory Measures

This chapter focuses on the neurobiology of schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) as well as schizotypy or attenuated schizophrenia-spectrum traits present among the general population, as opposed to clinical cohorts. It can be assumed that a better understanding of the neurobiology of SPD will hopefully lead to enhancements of the diagnosis and treatment of this complex, impairing, yet understudied, condition and the assessment of novel therapeutics. The chapter first characterizes the SPD construct, then turns to the genetics and development of SPD, followed by a review of studies employing nonimaging, laboratory measures. Then anatomical, functional, and neurochemical imaging findings are discussed.

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Schizotypy and brain structure: a voxel-based morphometry study

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291709991875 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 40 (9) ◽

pp. 1423-1431 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

G. Modinos ◽

A. Mechelli ◽

J. Ormel ◽

N. A. Groenewold ◽

A. Aleman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Chronic Schizophrenia ◽

Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Self Report ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Voxel Based Morphometry ◽

Schizotypal Personality ◽

Psychosis Proneness ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders

BackgroundSchizotypy is conceptualized as a subclinical manifestation of the same underlying biological factors that give rise to schizophrenia and other schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Individuals with psychometric schizotypy (PS) experience subthreshold psychotic signs and can be psychometrically identified among the general population. Previous research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has shown gray-matter volume (GMV) abnormalities in chronic schizophrenia, in subjects with an at-risk mental state (ARMS) and in individuals with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). However, to date, no studies have investigated the neuroanatomical correlates of PS.MethodSix hundred first- and second-year university students completed the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE), a self-report instrument on psychosis proneness measuring attenuated positive psychotic experiences. A total of 38 subjects with high and low PS were identified and subsequently scanned with MRI. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was applied to examine GMV differences between subjects with high and low positive PS.ResultsSubjects with high positive PS showed larger global volumes compared to subjects with low PS, and larger regional volumes in the medial posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the precuneus. There were no regions where GMV was greater in low than in high positive PS subjects.ConclusionsThese regions, the PCC and precuneus, have also been sites of volumetric differences in MRI studies of ARMS subjects and schizophrenia, suggesting that psychotic or psychotic-like experiences may have common neuroanatomical correlates across schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

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Anxiety symptoms in a major mood and schizophrenia spectrum disorders

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.04.007 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 37 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

B. Karpov ◽

G. Joffe ◽

K. Aaltonen ◽

J. Suvisaari ◽

I. Baryshnikov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Borderline Personality Disorder ◽

Personality Disorder ◽

Mood Disorders ◽

Borderline Personality ◽

Anxiety Symptoms ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Comorbid Anxiety ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders

AbstractBackgroundComorbid anxiety symptoms and disorders are present in many psychiatric disorders, but methodological variations render comparisons of their frequency and intensity difficult. Furthermore, whether risk factors for comorbid anxiety symptoms are similar in patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders remains unclear.MethodsThe Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS) was used to measure anxiety symptoms in psychiatric care patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SSA, n = 113), bipolar disorder (BD, n = 99), or depressive disorder (DD, n = 188) in the Helsinki University Psychiatric Consortium Study. Bivariate correlations and multivariate linear regression models were used to examine associations of depressive symptoms, neuroticism, early psychological trauma and distress, self-efficacy, symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and attachment style with anxiety symptoms in the three diagnostic groups.ResultsFrequent or constant anxiety was reported by 40.2% of SSA, 51.5% of BD, and 55.6% of DD patients; it was described as severe or extreme by 43.8%, 41.4%, and 41.2% of these patients, respectively. SSA patients were significantly less anxious (P = 0.010) and less often avoided anxiety-provoking situations (P = 0.009) than the other patients. In regression analyses, OASIS was associated with high neuroticism, symptoms of depression and borderline personality disorder and low self-efficacy in all patients, and with early trauma in patients with mood disorders.ConclusionsComorbid anxiety symptoms are ubiquitous among psychiatric patients with mood or schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and in almost half of them, reportedly severe. Anxiety symptoms appear to be strongly related to both concurrent depressive symptoms and personality characteristics, regardless of principal diagnosis.

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