Although autism and schizophrenia are now generally
recognizedas two separate illnesses, there is reason to
believe that autistictraits and schizophrenia traits
co-occur in some individuals.
For instance, some children with autism disorder have
been foundto develop schizophrenia later in life, the
negative symptomsof schizophrenia have been found to co-vary
with autistic traitsin certain schizophrenia subjects, and a
link between autistictraits and schizophrenia traits was
found in a sample of collegestudents.
Now certain individuals with schizotypal personality
disorder—consideredthe mildest schizophrenia-spectrum
illness—have been foundto possess an unusual preponderance
of autistic traits...
[Read more]
MedWire News:
Children who are separated from their mothers for 4 weeks or more show
an elevated incidence of schizotypal symptoms in later life, especially
when separation occurred in the first 2 years of life, a study shows.
In addition, separated children
reported to show early angry emotional behavior were more likely to
manifest schizotypal symptoms later in life than other children, thereby
supporting "the role of early childhood psychosocial risk factors in the
development of subsequent schizophrenia spectrum symptoms in emotionally
vulnerable children," the researchers say...
[Read more]
The present study aims to explore
the deficit of cognitive, social functioning, social cognition and
social skill with the SPD of general population. Additionally, the
relationship between social functioning and rejection sensitivity is
also investigated.
Furthermore, this paper wants to
explore how social functioning and rejection sensitivity can predict the
spore in the SPQ so as to build up the indirect relationship between SPQ
score and rejection sensitivity. Lastly, gender effect on cognitive and
social functioning will also be explored. To our knowledge, the present
study is the first...
[Read more]
Cognitive
deficits have been documented in schizophrenia and spectrum disorders.
This study examines cognitive functioning and its relation to symptoms
in adolescents with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). Participants
are 89 adolescents recruited for a study of youth at risk for Axis I
disorders, especially psychosis. At intake, 34 met criteria for SPD, 38
for another Axis II disorder and/or conduct disorder (Other
disorder—OD), and 17 did not currently meet criteria for any DSM-IV
disorder (normal control—NC). At initial assessment, cognitive
functioning was measured using subtests from the...
[Read more]
We examined whether positive
schizotypy (i.e., reports of hallucinatory and delusional-like
experiences) in nonclinical participants could predict false perceptual
experiences during detection of fast-moving words beyond a possible
response bias. The participants (N = 160) were assigned to one of two
conditions: they were asked either to make presence/absence judgments
(loose criterion) or to read aloud every detected word (strict
criterion). Regression analysis showed that high levels of positive
schizotypy predicted false alarms in the loose condition and false
perceptions of words in the strict condition. The obtained effects were
independent of...
[Read more]
Background: Only a few randomized clinical trials have
tested the effect on transition rates of intervention programs for
patients with sub-threshold psychosis-like symptoms.
Aim: To examine whether integrated
treatment reduced transition to psychosis for first-contact patients
diagnosed with schizotypal disorder.
Methods: Seventy-nine patients were randomized to
integrated treatment or standard treatment. Survival analysis with
multivariate Cox-regression was used to identify factors determinant for
transition to psychotic disorder.
Results: In the multivariate model, male gender
increased risk for transition to psychotic disorder (relative risk=4.47,
(confidence interval 1.30–15.33)), while integrated treatment reduced
the risk (relative risk=0.36 (confidence interval 0.16– 0.85)). At
two-year follow-up, the proportion diagnosed with a psychotic disorder
was 25.0% for patients randomized to integrated treatment compared to
48.3% for patients randomized to standard treatment.
Conclusion: Integrated treatment postponed or inhibited onset of
psychosis in significantly more cases than standard treatment..
[Read more]
There is an
evolutionary puzzle surrounding the persistence of schizophrenia, since
it is substantially heritable and associated with sharply reduced
fitness. However, some of the personality traits which are predictive of
schizophrenia are also associated with artistic creativity. Geoffrey
Miller has proposed that artistic creativity functions to attract mates.
Here, we investigate the relationship between schizotypal personality
traits, creative activity, and mating success in a large sample of
British poets, visual artists, and other adults. We show that two
components of schizotypy are positively correlated with mating success.
For one component...
[Read more]
There is
ample evidence from family and genetic studies to suggest that
schizophrenia is related to a less severe diagnosis known as
“Schizotypal Personality Disorder” (SPD). The criteria for SPD share
many of the criteria for a diagnosis of schizophrenia, including a
pervasive pattern of disruption in social relationships, unusual
sensations and perceptions, odd beliefs not consistent with cultural
norms (“magical thinking”) and a restricted range of emotional
expressivity.
Unlike
schizophrenia, however, SPD is generally not chronically debilitating,
does not involved frank hallucinations or significant cognitive
impairments, and rarely benefits from the use of anti-psychotic
medications. These observations have prompted some to speak of a
“schizophrenia spectrum”, described as a range of deficits that extend
from mild to severe, likely related to altered anatomy of similar brain
structures...
[Read more]
Certain psychosocial treatments, such as assertive
community treatment and family intervention, have been shown to have
beneficial effects on clinical and social outcomes for patients with
schizophrenia. It has also been suggested that early treatment after the
onset of psychotic illness provides the best chance o preventing
relapse. Our study (the OPUS trial) is the first large randomised
clinical trial of integrated treatment versus standard treatment for
patients who had experienced a first episode of psychosis...
[Read more]
Although anecdotal and correlational results have
suggested a reliable relationship between creativity and psychosis, few
studies have examined this relationship using empirical methods. In
addition, little is known about the neural substrates of creative
thinking. We investigated the creative thinking process in relation to
schizotypal personality, schizophrenia and prefrontal hemispheric
laterality using behavioral and near-infrared optical spectroscopy
(NIRS) methods. Schizophrenic, psychometrically ascertained schizotypal,
and healthy control subjects (all right-handed) participated...
[Read more]
Often viewed as a hindrance, having a
quirky or socially awkward approach to life may be the key to becoming a
great artist, composer or inventor.
New research on individuals with schizotypal personalities – people
characterized by odd behavior and language but who are not psychotic or
schizophrenic – offers the first neurological evidence that they are
more creative than either normal or fully schizophrenic individuals, and
rely more heavily on the right sides of their brains than the general
population to access their creativity...
[Read more]
The current investigation uses a large non-clinical
sample of undergraduate college students (N=189) to investigate
schizotypal traits among cannabis and non-cannabis users, as well as the
temporal order of the onset of these traits and cannabis use. Findings
suggest that regular cannabis users are significantly more prone to
cognitive and perceptual distortions as well as disorganization, but not
interpersonal deficits, than non-regular users and those who have never
used. Additionally, the onset of schizotypal symptoms generally precedes
the onset of cannabis use. The findings do not support a causal link
between cannabis use and schizotypal traits...
[Read more]
This overview focuses on neurobiologic
abnormalities found in subjects with schizotypal personality
disorder, the prototype of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and
chronic schizophrenia in the context of common vulnerabilities shared by
SPD and schizophrenia, as well as those factors that protect against the
severe cognitive/social deficits and frank psychosis of chronic
schizophrenia. A pathophysiologic model of the relationship between
schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia is developed on the
basis of this data....
[Read more]
It was examined whether psychotic-like personality
traits in a sample of 205 college students could predict logical
reasoning deficits, akin to those seen in schizophrenia. The
participants were tested on their ability to assess the logical validity
of premises (Logical Reasoning Task), and completed a multi-dimensional
schizotypy inventory (O-LIFE). Low accuracy was associated with
increased levels of disorganized schizotypy (‘Cognitive
Disorganization’), while elevated errors were associated with increased
levels of positive (‘Unusual Experiences’), negative (‘Introvertive
Anhedonia’) and impulsive (‘Impulsivity Non-conformity’) schizotypy...
[Read more]
A preliminary study of the
antipsychotic drug olanzapine from researchers at the University of
Pittsburgh Medical center indicates that it might benefit those with
schizotypal personality disorder as well.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder, or
SPD, includes many of the social and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia
(i.e. suspiciousness or paranoia, extreme social anxiety or withdrawal,
odd thinking/speech, unusual perceptual experiences such as bodily
illusions, etc)...
[Read more]
It has been
postulated that to have any liability for schizophrenia, one must
inherit a particular genetic constitution called “schizotaxia”, which is
a ‘subtle neurointegrative deficit’. Upon this deficit, by the process
of social learning, all individuals with schizotaxia develop a
personality structure, called schizotype. Schizotype is characterized by
four traits, cognitive slippage, social aversiveness, anhedonia and
ambivalence. Schizotaxia was recently reformulated as emerging from the
effects of an early environmental insult in conjunction with a genetic
predisposition to schizophrenia, and schizotype as only one of its
possible outcomes... [Read more]
Schizotypal personality is characterized by a variety
of traits, such as magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, and
anhedonia. Factor analytic studies have shown that these characteristics
tend to cluster into at least two separate dimensions (positive and
negative schizotypy). Schizotypy is associated with vulnerability to
schizophrenia. However, it is also related to higher scores on measures
of creativity and increased right-hemisphere brain activity. In a series
of recent studies investigating the behavioral, neuropsychological, and
neuroimaging correlates of positive and negative schizotypy, positive
schizotypy was associated with better performance on measures of
creativity, enhanced responsivity to threatening emotional stimuli, and
more right-prefrontal cortical activity. These results support earlier
psychological studies suggesting that positive schizotypy is related to
patterns of cognitive and emotional function (e.g., divergent thinking,
heightened emotion) that are common to both creativity and
psychopathology...
Three factors are hypothesized to underlie schizotypal
personality in the general population, but few data are currently
available concerning its invariance across age and gender. This study
tests the hypothesis that this three-factor structure is invariant
across both age and gender. The Italian translation of the Schizotypal
Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) was administered to a sample of 929
Italian high school students aged 16 years, and to a sample of 803
Italian university students aged 22 years. The two samples differed by
age, but were balanced on gender...
[Read more]
Every person has a characteristic manner of thinking,
feeling, and relating to others. Some of these personality traits can be
so dysfunctional as to warrant a diagnosis of personality disorder. The
World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases
(ICD-10) includes ten personality disorder diagnoses. Three issues of
particular importance for the diagnosis of personality disorders are
their differentiation from other mental disorders, from general
personality functioning, and from each other. Each of these issues is
discussed in turn, and it is suggested that personality disorders are
more accurately and effectively diagnosed as maladaptive variants of
common personality traits...
[Read more]
Children with better nutrition,
regulated exercise and a more nurturing educational experience are less
likely to develop schizotypal personality disorder, a disorder that
marks the stage before schizophrenia, according to a 20-year study led
by a USC professor.
The study, conducted by Adrian Raine,
a professor of psychology and neuroscience, was the first ever to
research how to prevent the disorder rather than just treat it...
[Read more]
Attentional deficits have been
identified as an abnormalitythat individuals with
schizotypal personality disorder sharewith schizophrenia
patients. The purpose of this study was toexamine automatic
sensorimotor gating and controlled attentionalmodulation of
the startle eye blink response in unmedicatedsubjects with
schizotypal personality disorder...
[Read more]
In a sample of 75 women recruited from the community,
we measured trauma/maltreatment history and symptoms of schizotypal
personality disorder, using both questionnaire and interview measures.
As hypothesized, individuals with histories of trauma/maltreatment had
elevated levels of schizotypal symptoms. Among types of
trauma/maltreatment, reported childhood neglect was especially strongly
associated with schizotypal symptoms...
[Read more]
This study examined whether early or late processes
in semantic networks were abnormal in women with a diagnosis of
schizotypal personality disorder. The N400 component of the EEG
event-related potentials was used as a probe of semantic processes...
[Read more]
The inclusion for the first time of a
chapter on the neuropsychopharmacology of the personality disorders in
the "ACNP Generation of Progress" series reflects the increasing
appreciation of underlying neurobiologic substraits for these disorders
and the value of targeted psychopharmacologic treatment. The personality
disorders, located on Axis II in DSM-III-R and DSM-IV, consist of
constellations of enduring or persistent maladaptive traits and/or
symptoms that are characteristic of the way an individual experiences
and interacts with his/her environment...
[Read more]
The authors contrasted verbal and nonverbal measures
of attention and memory in patients with DSMIV- defined schizotypal
personality disorder in order to expand on their previous findings of
verbal learning deficits in these patients and to understand better the
neuropsychological profile of schizotypal personality disorder...
[Read more]
NIH Researchers Report That Knockout
Of Mouse Gene Results In Unexpected Social and Behavioral Changes
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in the
September 5, 1997 issue of Cell that they have identified a gene that
disrupts normal social behavior among laboratory mice missing that gene.
In addition, these mutant mice have abnormalities in sensorimotor gating
- a process believed to be important in animals for filtering the
multitude of stimuli that constantly bombard their senses and allowing
them to focus on one stimulus at a time...
[Read more]
As more and more evidence has accumulated to support
the hypothesis of a genetic basis to schizophrenia (Fowles. 1992; Meehl.
1990), research has turned increasingly toward examining biological
mechanisms that may underlie the disorder. Researchers have attempted to
isolate neuroanatomical, psychophysiological, cognitive, and
neuropsychological impairnents in schizophrenics that may be expressions
of what Meehl ( 1990) tenned the "integrative neural defect." This
defect is the phenotypic manifestation of the schizogene(s) and is
theorized to set the stage for the emergence of psychotic
symptomatology...
[Read more]
The Scizotypal Personality Questionnaire, modeled on the nine
components of DSM-III-R schizotypy, was administered to 122 medical
students along with the Thayer Activation-Deactivation Adjective
Checklist and the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for words and
faces. Close affinities were found between a three-factor schizotypal
personality structure and a three-syndrome model of schizophrenia...
[Read more]
While two factors are currently thought to underlie
individual differences in schizotypal personality, three factors may
best explain schizotypal traits. This study used confirmatory factor
analysis to assess five competing models of schizotypal personality in
the general population: null model, one-factor model, simple two-factor
model, Kendler twofactor model, and three-factor model...
[Read more]
This study tests the hypothesis that pre-frontal
deficits underlie schizotypal personality in the normal population.
Personality measures assessing features of DSM-IIIR schizotypal
personality disorder (SPD) were related to left and right pre-frontal
brain area assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and
neuropsychological measures of pre-frontal functioning (Wisconsin Card
Sorting Task, WCST) in a group of non-institutionalized, unmedicated
normal subjects. High schizo typal scores were significantly associated
with reduced pre-frontal area and more WCST perseveration errors;
conversely no relationships were observed between these pre-frontal
measures and measures of psychosis-proneness unrelated to SPD traits...
c
This study tests the hypothesis that normal women will
score higher on the more "positive" features of schizotypal personality
and normal men will score higher on more "negative" schizotypal
features. Two samples (n = 393, 394) were administered the Schizotypal
Personality Questionnaire, which contains subscales corresponding to the
9 schizotypal personality traits outlined in the Diagnostic and
Statistica[ Manua[ ofMenta[ Disorders (rev.3rd ed.; American Psychiatric
Association, 1987). Women scored significantly higher on the positive
subscales of Ideas of Reference and Odd Beliefs/Magical Thinking, and
men scored significantly higher on the negative subscales of No Close
Friends and Constricted Affect...
[Read more]
Using a nonclinical, noncollege sample, this study set
out to confirm and extend previous findings of a relationship between
the cognitive-perceptual features of schizotypal personality and mixed
handedness using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), basedd
on previous findings of relationships between non dextrality and thought
disorder in schizophrenia, it was predicted that the odd speech subscale
of the SPQ would have the strongest relationship with mixed handedness.
Mixed-handed adults did have significantly higher scores than
right-handed and left-handed adults on the cognitive-perceptual factor
and its subscale of odd speech...
[Read more]
Existing self-report measures of schizotypal personality
assess only one to three of the nine traits of schizo typal personality
disorder. This study describes the development of the Schizotypal
Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), a self-report scale modeled on
DSM-III-R criteria for schizotypal personality disorder and containing
sub scales for all nine schizotypal traits...
[Read more]
The schizotypal personality category introduced in
DSM-III reflects an initial effort to organize psychiatric diagnosis
on a biogenetic basis. The schizotypal diagnosis is intended to reflect
a genetic association with schizophrenia. One result of this inclusion
has been to stimulate a growing body of evidence about its
validity—evidence that is reviewed in this issue by Kendler, Torgersen,
Siever, and Stone. These studies suggest that criteria which emphasize
interpersonal and social trait disabilities are more specific to a
schizotype than criteria which stress psychoticlike symptoms...
[Read more]
The goal of this article is to provide a historical
perspective on the DSM-III concept of schizotypal personality
disorder. It is argued that two major traditions have influenced our
conceptualization of this diagnostic entity. The first or familial
approach emphasizes the characteristic traits found in the deviant
but nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenics.
The second or clinical approach focuses on
patients who appear to demonstrate the fundamental symptoms of
schizophrenia without psychotic symptoms or severe personality
deterioration...
[Read more]
The adoptive, family, and twin studies show that
schizotypal personality features are found among the relatives of
schizophrenics. However, it has not been shown that there is a higher
risk of schizophrenia among the relatives of schizotypals. An
explanation may be that the current DSM-III criteria of
schizotypal personality disorder do not adequately define schizotypals
genetically related to schizophrenia. While some of the cases that meet
DSM-III criteria are within the schizophrenia spectrum, others
are unrelated to schizophrenia...
[Read more]
The establishment of the new diagnostic category,
Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD), has stimulated biological
studies of patients with this disorder. Such studies offer the potential
of better understanding the diagnosis and treatment of SPD as well as
more clearly defining the boundaries of the schizophrenic disorders. SPD
has been studied in the clinical setting, in family studies of
schizophrenia, and in the biological high-risk paradigm. In most cases,
biological variables associated with schizophrenia have been evaluated.
Decreased activities of plasma amine oxidase and platelet monoamine
oxidase have been associated with SPD in the families of schizophrenics
and in "biological high-risk" studies...
[Read more]
Schizotypal personality (SP) corresponds closely to
the concept from which it was derived, "borderline schizophrenia," and
represents, in most instances, the intermediate band of the
schizophrenia spectrum. Problems often encountered in patients with SP
include eccentric social habits, anhedonia, hypersensitivity to
criticism, humorlessness, misinterpretation of the moods and statements
of others, and inability to fit in socially. While neuroleptic
medication may be useful during brief psychotic episodes (to which many
patients with SP are prone), the mainstays of treatment are verbal
psychotherapies...
[Read more]
In spite of the pressure for consensus that
operational diagnoses exert, there remains considerable disagreement
concerning the marginal syndromes which may be subtypes of schizophrenia
or phenomenologically or genetically related. Some clarification of the
question may result by returning to Bleuler's "latent schizophrenia,"
which he observed in the relatives of schizophrenics. Schizotypal
personality disorder of DSM-III is only a first approximation to
this, and its deficits in this respect are discussed briefly...
[Read more]
The author questions the assumption that family
relationship should be given primacy as the validating criterion in
establishing diagnostic items for the DSM-III definition of
schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). The presenting characteristics
of clinically defined patients may be quite different from those that
best describe the nonpatient relatives of schizophrenic patients
encountered in genetic or high-risk studies. Since the DSM-III
nomenclature is meant primarily for use in clinical settings, it must be
based on symptom characteristics found in patients, not in nonpatient
relatives...
[Read more]
Eysenck and Eysenck's (1976) genetic model of
psychoticism links psychopathy with schizophrenia and predicts a
relationship between psychopathy and the Psychoticism scale of the EPQ.
However, two recent studies fail to support this prediction. It is
argued that this theory may be more appropriately tested using DSM-III
categories of borderline and schizotypal personality disorder and more
specific measures of schizoid personality. This study also assesses two
claims by Howard, Bailey and Newman (1984) that an affective deficit is
common to both psychopathy and schizophrenia and that Hare's Checklist
for Psychopathy is lacking in clinical specificity...
[Read more]
