Schizophrenia
April 23, 2022
Mascha M.J. Linszen, Janna De Boer, Maya Schutte et al.
55 citations
Hallucinations occur in 6-15% of the general population, but their detailed characteristics are poorly understood. In a large online survey of 10,448 participants aged 14-88, auditory hallucinations were most common in the past month (29.5%), followed by visual (21.5%), tactile (19.9%), and olfactory (17.3%); nearly half (47.6%) experienced hallucinations in two or more senses. Many participants rated their hallucinations as severe due to negative content (16.0-31.6%), distress (10.5-16.8%), or dysfunction (12.7-17.3%). Decreased insight occurred in 10.2-11.4%, hypnagogia in 9.0-10.6%, and bereavement hallucinations in 2.8%. Delusions were rare (7.0%) but significantly associated with recent hallucinations. The findings indicate a wide variety of hallucination phenomenology in the general population and support a phenomenological continuum.
Schizophrenia
June 1, 2020
Umair Akram, Maria Gardani, Kamila R. Irvine et al.
31 citations
Among 1273 UK university students, psychotic experiences were significantly more common in those reporting nightmares (757 students) than in those who did not (516 students). Nightmare intensity, consequences, and resulting awakenings together with emotion regulation difficulties accounted for 32.4% of the variance in psychotic experiences. Emotion regulation difficulties mediated the link between nightmare factors and psychotic experiences, suggesting that trouble regulating emotions may partly explain why some individuals with psychotic experiences have more intense and disruptive nightmares. Adaptive regulation of dream content during REM sleep is thought to control emotional surges, and emotion regulation may be a key mechanism protecting dream content and sleep quality.
Schizophrenia
September 29, 2022
Mathilde Argote, Guillaume Sescousse, Jérôme Brunelin et al.
7 citations
Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a multidimensional syndrome occurring along the psychosis continuum. A meta-analysis of 19 studies including 1840 cannabis users and 3351 non-cannabis users found that cannabis users had higher severity of FTD (standardized mean difference = 0.21). This increase was present regardless of disorder severity: in healthy individuals, patients with first-episode psychosis, and patients with schizophrenia. Between-group differences were not significant. Cannabis use appears to be associated with increased FTD severity all along the psychosis continuum, consistent with its known effect on positive symptoms.
Schizophrenia
November 26, 2025
Ben Alderson-Day, Peter Moseley, Angela Woods et al.
Felt presence—the sensation that someone else is nearby despite no sensory evidence—has been recognized in psychosis for over a century but has been difficult to study. Recently it has been identified across multiple diagnoses and emphasized by people with psychosis as a clinical priority. This work describes how felt presence appears in a first-episode psychosis sample and reports initial links to affect, gender, and psychopathology.
Schizophrenia
January 1, 2023
Alaina M Jaster, Javier González-Maeso
The head-twitch response (HTR) in rodents is a behavioral marker of serotonin 2A receptor activation caused by psychedelics. This work describes a method using a magnetic ear tag reporter with automated quantification and biphasic detection to measure HTR in mice given the psychedelic DOI. The approach can help study molecular mechanisms of psychosis and identify signaling processes relevant to antipsychotic and psychedelic compounds.