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Arslan B, Kizilay E, Verim B, Demirlek C, Dokuyan Y, Turan YE, Kucukakdag A, Demir M, Cesim E, Bora E. Automated linguistic analysis in speech samples of Turkish-speaking patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Schizophr Res 2024; 267:65-71. [PMID: 38518480 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/24/2024]
Abstract
Modern natural language processing (NLP) methods provide ways to objectively quantify language disturbances for potential use in diagnostic classification. We performed computerized language analysis in speech samples of 82 Turkish-speaking subjects, including 44 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and 38 healthy controls (HC). Exploratory analysis of speech samples involved 16 sentence-level semantic similarity features using SBERT (Sentence Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Text) as well as 8 generic and 8 part-of-speech (POS) features. The random forest classifier using SBERT-derived semantic similarity features achieved a mean accuracy of 85.6 % for the classification of SSD and HC. When semantic similarity features were combined with generic and POS features, the classifier's mean accuracy reached to 86.8 %. Our analysis reflected increased sentence-level semantic similarity scores in SSD. Generic and POS analyses revealed an increase in the use of verbs, proper nouns and pronouns in SSD while our results showed a decrease in the utilization of conjunctions, determiners, and both average and maximum sentence length in SSD compared to HC. Quantitative language features were correlated with the expressive deficit domain of BNSS (Brief Negative Symptom Scale) as well as with the duration of illness. These findings from Turkish-speaking interviews contribute to the growing evidence-based NLP-derived assessments in non-English-speaking patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Berat Arslan
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey.
| | - Elif Kizilay
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Burcu Verim
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Cemal Demirlek
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Yagmur Dokuyan
- Department of Psychiatry, Izmir City Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Yaren Ecesu Turan
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Aybuke Kucukakdag
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Muhammed Demir
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Ezgi Cesim
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Emre Bora
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Carlton South, Victoria 3053, Australia
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Hall NT, Hallquist MN, Martin EA, Lian W, Jonas KG, Kotov R. Automating the analysis of facial emotion expression dynamics: A computational framework and application in psychotic disorders. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2313665121. [PMID: 38530896 PMCID: PMC10998559 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2313665121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Facial emotion expressions play a central role in interpersonal interactions; these displays are used to predict and influence the behavior of others. Despite their importance, quantifying and analyzing the dynamics of brief facial emotion expressions remains an understudied methodological challenge. Here, we present a method that leverages machine learning and network modeling to assess the dynamics of facial expressions. Using video recordings of clinical interviews, we demonstrate the utility of this approach in a sample of 96 people diagnosed with psychotic disorders and 116 never-psychotic adults. Participants diagnosed with schizophrenia tended to move from neutral expressions to uncommon expressions (e.g., fear, surprise), whereas participants diagnosed with other psychoses (e.g., mood disorders with psychosis) moved toward expressions of sadness. This method has broad applications to the study of normal and altered expressions of emotion and can be integrated with telemedicine to improve psychiatric assessment and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan T. Hall
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC27599
| | - Michael N. Hallquist
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC27599
| | - Elizabeth A. Martin
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA92697
| | - Wenxuan Lian
- Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stoney Brook, NY11794
| | | | - Roman Kotov
- Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stoney Brook, NY11794
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Stein F, Gruber M, Mauritz M, Brosch K, Pfarr JK, Ringwald KG, Thomas-Odenthal F, Wroblewski A, Evermann U, Steinsträter O, Grumbach P, Thiel K, Winter A, Bonnekoh LM, Flinkenflügel K, Goltermann J, Meinert S, Grotegerd D, Bauer J, Opel N, Hahn T, Leehr EJ, Jansen A, de Lange SC, van den Heuvel MP, Nenadić I, Krug A, Dannlowski U, Repple J, Kircher T. Brain Structural Network Connectivity of Formal Thought Disorder Dimensions in Affective and Psychotic Disorders. Biol Psychiatry 2024; 95:629-638. [PMID: 37207935 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The psychopathological syndrome of formal thought disorder (FTD) is not only present in schizophrenia (SZ), but also highly prevalent in major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. It remains unknown how alterations in the structural white matter connectome of the brain correlate with psychopathological FTD dimensions across affective and psychotic disorders. METHODS Using FTD items of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, we performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in 864 patients with major depressive disorder (n= 689), bipolar disorder (n = 108), or SZ (n = 67) to identify psychopathological FTD dimensions. We used T1- and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to reconstruct the structural connectome of the brain. To investigate the association of FTD subdimensions and global structural connectome measures, we employed linear regression models. We used network-based statistic to identify subnetworks of white matter fiber tracts associated with FTD symptomatology. RESULTS Three psychopathological FTD dimensions were delineated, i.e., disorganization, emptiness, and incoherence. Disorganization and incoherence were associated with global dysconnectivity. Network-based statistics identified subnetworks associated with the FTD dimensions disorganization and emptiness but not with the FTD dimension incoherence. Post hoc analyses on subnetworks did not reveal diagnosis × FTD dimension interaction effects. Results remained stable after correcting for medication and disease severity. Confirmatory analyses showed a substantial overlap of nodes from both subnetworks with cortical brain regions previously associated with FTD in SZ. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated white matter subnetwork dysconnectivity in major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and SZ associated with FTD dimensions that predominantly comprise brain regions implicated in speech. Results open an avenue for transdiagnostic, psychopathology-informed, dimensional studies in pathogenetic research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederike Stein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
| | - Marius Gruber
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Marco Mauritz
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Katharina Brosch
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Julia-Katharina Pfarr
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Kai G Ringwald
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Florian Thomas-Odenthal
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Adrian Wroblewski
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Ulrika Evermann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Olaf Steinsträter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Pascal Grumbach
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Katharina Thiel
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Alexandra Winter
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Linda M Bonnekoh
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Kira Flinkenflügel
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Janik Goltermann
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Susanne Meinert
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Dominik Grotegerd
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Jochen Bauer
- Department of Radiology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Nils Opel
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Jena University Hospital/Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Tim Hahn
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Elisabeth J Leehr
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Andreas Jansen
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Siemon C de Lange
- Connectome Lab, Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Sleep and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn P van den Heuvel
- Connectome Lab, Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Section Complex Trait Genetics, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Igor Nenadić
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Axel Krug
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Udo Dannlowski
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Jonathan Repple
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Tilo Kircher
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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García-León MÁ, Fuentes-Claramonte P, Soler-Vidal J, Ramiro-Sousa N, Salgado-Pineda P, Salavert J, Torres L, Guerrero-Pedraza A, Tristany J, Karuk A, Barbosa L, Del Olmo-Encabo P, Canut-Altemir P, Munuera J, Sarró S, Salvador R, McKenna PJ, Pomarol-Clotet E. Cortical volume abnormalities in schizophrenia: Correlations with symptoms and cognitive impairment. Schizophr Res 2024; 266:50-57. [PMID: 38368705 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.01.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Schizophrenic symptoms are known to segregate into reality distortion, negative and disorganization syndromes, but the correlates of these syndromes with regional brain structural change are not well established. Cognitive impairment is a further clinical feature of schizophrenia, whose brain structural correlates are the subject of conflicting findings. METHODS 165 patients with schizophrenia were rated for symptoms using the PANSS, and cognitive impairment was indexed by estimated premorbid-current IQ discrepancy. Cortical volume was measured using surface-based morphometry in the patients and in 50 healthy controls. Correlations between clinical and cognitive measures and cortical volume were examined using whole-brain FreeSurfer tools. RESULTS No clusters of volume reduction were seen associated with reality distortion or disorganization. Negative symptom scores showed a significant inverse correlation with volume in a small cluster in the left medial orbitofrontal gyrus. Larger estimated premorbid-current IQ discrepancies were associated with clusters of reduced cortical volume in the left precentral gyrus and the left temporal lobe. The cluster of association with negative symptoms disappeared when estimated premorbid-current IQ discrepancy was controlled for. CONCLUSIONS This study does not provide support for an association between brain structural abnormality and reality distortion or disorganization syndromes in schizophrenia. The cluster of volume reduction found in the left medial orbitofrontal cortex correlated with negative symptoms may have reflected the association between this class of symptoms and cognitive impairment. The study adds to existing findings of an association between cognitive impairment and brain structural changes in the disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Ángeles García-León
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Paola Fuentes-Claramonte
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Joan Soler-Vidal
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain; Benito Menni CASM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Pilar Salgado-Pineda
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | | | | | - Andriana Karuk
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lucila Barbosa
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | - Josep Munuera
- Diagnostic Imaging Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Salvador Sarró
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Raymond Salvador
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Peter J McKenna
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Edith Pomarol-Clotet
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain
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5
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Peng Z, Li Q, Liu X, Zhang H, Luosang-Zhuoma, Ran M, Liu M, Tan X, Stein MJ. A new schizophrenia screening instrument based on evaluating the patient's writing. Schizophr Res 2024; 266:127-135. [PMID: 38401411 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/26/2024]
Abstract
Formal Thought Disorder (FTD) is a defining feature of schizophrenia, which is often assessed through patients' speech. Meanwhile, the written language is less studied. The aim of the present study is to establish and validate a comprehensive clinical screening scale, capturing the full variety of empirical characteristics of writing in patients with schizophrenia. The 16-item Screening Instrument for Schizophrenic Features in Writing (SISFiW) is derived from detailed literature review and a "brainstorming" discussion on 30 samples written by patients with schizophrenia. One hundred and fifty-seven participants (114 patients with an ICD-10 diagnoses of schizophrenia; 43 healthy control subjects) were interviewed and symptoms assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language, and Communication (TLC). Article samples written by each participant were rated with the SISFiW. Results demonstrated significant difference of the SISFiW-total between the patient group and healthy controls [(3.61 ± 1.72) vs. (0.49 ± 0.63), t = 16.64, p<0.001]. The inter-rater reliability (weighted kappa = 0.72) and the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.613) were acceptable, but correlations with the criterion (PANSS and TLC) were unremarkable. The ROC analysis indicated a cutoff point at 2 with the maximal sensitivity (93.0 %)/specificity (93.0 %). Discriminant analysis of the SISFiW items yielded 8 classifiers that discriminated between the diagnostic groups at a perfect overall performance (with 90.4 % of original and 88.5 % cross-validated grouped cases classified correctly). This instrument appears to be practicable and reliable, with relatively robust discriminatory power, and may serve as a complementary tool to existing FTD rating scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zulai Peng
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Qingjun Li
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Xinglan Liu
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Huangzhiheng Zhang
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Luosang-Zhuoma
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Manli Ran
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Maohang Liu
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Xiaolin Tan
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Mark J Stein
- Chongqing Mental Health Center, Chongqing, China; Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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Zaher F, Diallo M, Achim AM, Joober R, Roy MA, Demers MF, Subramanian P, Lavigne KM, Lepage M, Gonzalez D, Zeljkovic I, Davis K, Mackinley M, Sabesan P, Lal S, Voppel A, Palaniyappan L. Speech markers to predict and prevent recurrent episodes of psychosis: A narrative overview and emerging opportunities. Schizophr Res 2024; 266:205-215. [PMID: 38428118 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.02.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
Preventing relapse in schizophrenia improves long-term health outcomes. Repeated episodes of psychotic symptoms shape the trajectory of this illness and can be a detriment to functional recovery. Despite early intervention programs, high relapse rates persist, calling for alternative approaches in relapse prevention. Predicting imminent relapse at an individual level is critical for effective intervention. While clinical profiles are often used to foresee relapse, they lack the specificity and sensitivity needed for timely prediction. Here, we review the use of speech through Natural Language Processing (NLP) to predict a recurrent psychotic episode. Recent advancements in NLP of speech have shown the ability to detect linguistic markers related to thought disorder and other language disruptions within 2-4 weeks preceding a relapse. This approach has shown to be able to capture individual speech patterns, showing promise in its use as a prediction tool. We outline current developments in remote monitoring for psychotic relapses, discuss the challenges and limitations and present the speech-NLP based approach as an alternative to detect relapses with sufficient accuracy, construct validity and lead time to generate clinical actions towards prevention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farida Zaher
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Mariama Diallo
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Amélie M Achim
- Département de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada; Vitam - Centre de Recherche en Santé Durable, Québec City, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche CERVO, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Ridha Joober
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Marc-André Roy
- Département de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche CERVO, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Marie-France Demers
- Centre de Recherche CERVO, Québec City, QC, Canada; Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Priya Subramanian
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Katie M Lavigne
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Martin Lepage
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Daniela Gonzalez
- Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis, London Health Sciences Center, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | - Irnes Zeljkovic
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Kristin Davis
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Michael Mackinley
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada; Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis, London Health Sciences Center, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | - Priyadharshini Sabesan
- Lakeshore General Hospital and Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Shalini Lal
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montréal, QC, Canada; School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Alban Voppel
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Lena Palaniyappan
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada; Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
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Zamperoni G, Tan EJ, Rossell SL, Meyer D, Sumner PJ. Evidence for the factor structure of formal thought disorder: A systematic review. Schizophr Res 2024; 264:424-434. [PMID: 38244319 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/01/2024] [Indexed: 01/22/2024]
Abstract
Disorganised speech, or, formal thought disorder (FTD), is considered one of the core features of psychosis, yet its factor structure remains debated. This systematic review aimed to identify the core dimensions of FTD. In line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), a systematic review was conducted on the FTD factor analytic literature. Sixteen studies were identified from PsycINFO, PubMed and Web of Science between October 1971 and January 2023. Across the 39 factor analyses investigated, findings demonstrated the prominence of a three-factor structure. Broad agreement was found for two factors within the three-factor model, which were typically referred to as disorganisation and negative, with the exact nature of the third dimension requiring further clarification. The quality assessment revealed some methodological challenges relating to the assessment of FTD and conducted factor analyses. Future research should clarify the exact nature of the third dimension across different patient groups and methodologies to determine whether a consistent transdiagnostic concept of FTD can be elucidated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgia Zamperoni
- Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC 3122, Australia.
| | - Eric J Tan
- Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC 3122, Australia; Memory Ageing & Cognition Centre, National University Health System, Singapore; Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Susan L Rossell
- Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC 3122, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, VIC 3065, Australia
| | - Denny Meyer
- Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC 3122, Australia; Department of Health Sciences and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC 3122, Australia
| | - Philip J Sumner
- Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC 3122, Australia
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8
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Jimeno N. Language and communication rehabilitation in patients with schizophrenia: A narrative review. Heliyon 2024; 10:e24897. [PMID: 38312547 PMCID: PMC10835363 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Language impairments often appear in patients with schizophrenia and are potential targets for rehabilitation. Clinical practice and research should be intimately connected. The aim was to perform a narrative review of the assessment and intervention tools that have been used for the rehabilitation of schizophrenia patients with language and communication impairments. Two types of tools, general and specific, were developed for both purposes. General tools include the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for assessment, and the Integrated Psychological Therapy for intervention. The specific tools used to evaluate language and communication impairments include the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication, the Formal Thought Disorder scales (for caregivers and patients), and the Thought and Language Disorder scale. The most recent language-specific intervention tools include the Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment, Conecta-2, Let's talk! Multimodal Speech-Gesture training, Speech Therapy Intervention Group, and PragmaCom. These tools primarily involve psychopathology/psychiatry, psychology, linguistics, speech and language therapy, and nursing. In conclusion, a wide range of assessment and intervention tools are available for the rehabilitation of language and communication impairments associated with schizophrenia. An integrative and interdisciplinary approach should always be considered for rehabilitation of language and communication in patients with schizophrenia throughout their lifetime.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Jimeno
- School of Medicine, University of Valladolid, Av. Ramón y Cajal 7, E-47005 Valladolid, Spain
- Research Group on Clinical Neuroscience of Castile and Leon, Av. Ramón y Cajal 7, E-47005 Valladolid, Spain
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Buciuman MO, Oeztuerk OF, Popovic D, Enrico P, Ruef A, Bieler N, Sarisik E, Weiske J, Dong MS, Dwyer DB, Kambeitz-Ilankovic L, Haas SS, Stainton A, Ruhrmann S, Chisholm K, Kambeitz J, Riecher-Rössler A, Upthegrove R, Schultze-Lutter F, Salokangas RKR, Hietala J, Pantelis C, Lencer R, Meisenzahl E, Wood SJ, Brambilla P, Borgwardt S, Falkai P, Antonucci LA, Bertolino A, Liddle P, Koutsouleris N. Structural and Functional Brain Patterns Predict Formal Thought Disorder's Severity and Its Persistence in Recent-Onset Psychosis: Results From the PRONIA Study. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2023; 8:1207-1217. [PMID: 37343661 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2023.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2023] [Revised: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Formal thought disorder (FThD) is a core feature of psychosis, and its severity and long-term persistence relates to poor clinical outcomes. However, advances in developing early recognition and management tools for FThD are hindered by a lack of insight into the brain-level predictors of FThD states and progression at the individual level. METHODS Two hundred thirty-three individuals with recent-onset psychosis were drawn from the multisite European Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management study. Support vector machine classifiers were trained within a cross-validation framework to separate two FThD symptom-based subgroups (high vs. low FThD severity), using cross-sectional whole-brain multiband fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations, gray matter volume and white matter volume data. Moreover, we trained machine learning models on these neuroimaging readouts to predict the persistence of high FThD subgroup membership from baseline to 1-year follow-up. RESULTS Cross-sectionally, multivariate patterns of gray matter volume within the salience, dorsal attention, visual, and ventral attention networks separated the FThD severity subgroups (balanced accuracy [BAC] = 60.8%). Longitudinally, distributed activations/deactivations within all fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation sub-bands (BACslow-5 = 73.2%, BACslow-4 = 72.9%, BACslow-3 = 68.0%), gray matter volume patterns overlapping with the cross-sectional ones (BAC = 62.7%), and smaller frontal white matter volume (BAC = 73.1%) predicted the persistence of high FThD severity from baseline to follow-up, with a combined multimodal balanced accuracy of BAC = 77%. CONCLUSIONS We report the first evidence of brain structural and functional patterns predictive of FThD severity and persistence in early psychosis. These findings open up avenues for the development of neuroimaging-based diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment options for the early recognition and management of FThD and associated poor outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madalina-Octavia Buciuman
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Oemer Faruk Oeztuerk
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - David Popovic
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Paolo Enrico
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Anne Ruef
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Nadia Bieler
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Elif Sarisik
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Johanna Weiske
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Mark Sen Dong
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Dominic B Dwyer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Lana Kambeitz-Ilankovic
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Shalaila S Haas
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Alexandra Stainton
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Stephan Ruhrmann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Joseph Kambeitz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Rachel Upthegrove
- Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Frauke Schultze-Lutter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia; University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Jarmo Hietala
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Christos Pantelis
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Carlton South, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; NorthWestern Mental Health, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rebekka Lencer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Eva Meisenzahl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Stephen J Wood
- Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Paolo Brambilla
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Stefan Borgwardt
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lüebeck, Germany
| | - Peter Falkai
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Linda A Antonucci
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari, Italy
| | - Alessandro Bertolino
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari, Italy; Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience (DiBraiN) - University of Bari "Aldo Moro," Bari, Italy
| | - Peter Liddle
- Division of Mental Health and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Mental Health, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Nikolaos Koutsouleris
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
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10
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Fradkin I, Nour MM, Dolan RJ. Theory-Driven Analysis of Natural Language Processing Measures of Thought Disorder Using Generative Language Modeling. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2023; 8:1013-1023. [PMID: 37257754 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2023.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Natural language processing (NLP) holds promise to transform psychiatric research and practice. A pertinent example is the success of NLP in the automatic detection of speech disorganization in formal thought disorder (FTD). However, we lack an understanding of precisely what common NLP metrics measure and how they relate to theoretical accounts of FTD. We propose tackling these questions by using deep generative language models to simulate FTD-like narratives by perturbing computational parameters instantiating theory-based mechanisms of FTD. METHODS We simulated FTD-like narratives using Generative-Pretrained-Transformer-2 by either increasing word selection stochasticity or limiting the model's memory span. We then examined the sensitivity of common NLP measures of derailment (semantic distance between consecutive words or sentences) and tangentiality (how quickly meaning drifts away from the topic) in detecting and dissociating the 2 underlying impairments. RESULTS Both parameters led to narratives characterized by greater semantic distance between consecutive sentences. Conversely, semantic distance between words was increased by increasing stochasticity, but decreased by limiting memory span. An NLP measure of tangentiality was uniquely predicted by limited memory span. The effects of limited memory span were nonmonotonic in that forgetting the global context resulted in sentences that were semantically closer to their local, intermediate context. Finally, different methods for encoding the meaning of sentences varied dramatically in performance. CONCLUSIONS This work validates a simulation-based approach as a valuable tool for hypothesis generation and mechanistic analysis of NLP markers in psychiatry. To facilitate dissemination of this approach, we accompany the paper with a hands-on Python tutorial.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac Fradkin
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Matthew M Nour
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Raymond J Dolan
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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11
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Silva AM, Limongi R, MacKinley M, Ford SD, Alonso-Sánchez MF, Palaniyappan L. Syntactic complexity of spoken language in the diagnosis of schizophrenia: A probabilistic Bayes network model. Schizophr Res 2023; 259:88-96. [PMID: 35752547 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 06/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
In the clinical linguistics of schizophrenia, syntactic complexity has received much attention. In this study, we address whether syntactic complexity deteriorates within the six months following the first episode of psychosis in those who develop a diagnosis of schizophrenia. We collected data from a cohort of twenty-six first-episode psychosis and 12 healthy control subjects using the Thought and Language Index interview in response to three pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test at first assessment and after six months (the time of consensus diagnosis). An automated labeling (part-of-speech tagging) for specific syntactic elements calculated large and granular syntactic complexity indices with a focus on clause complexity as a particular case from this spoken language data. Probabilistic reasoning leveraging the conditional independence properties of Bayes networks revealed that consensus diagnosis of schizophrenia predicted a decrease in nominal subjects per clause among individuals with first episode psychosis. From the entire sample, we estimate a 95.4 % probability that a 50 % decrease in mean nominal subjects per clause after six months is explained by the presence of first episode psychosis. Among those with psychosis, a 30 % decrease in this clause-complexity index after six months of experiencing the first episode predicted with 95 % probability a consensus diagnosis of schizophrenia, representing a conditional relationship between a longitudinal decrease in syntactic complexity and a diagnosis of schizophrenia. We conclude that an early drift towards linguistic disorganization/impoverishment of clause complexity-at the granular level of nominal subject per clause-is a distinctive feature of schizophrenia that decreases longitudinally, thus differentiating schizophrenia from other psychotic illnesses with shared phenomenology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelica M Silva
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Roberto Limongi
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Western University, London, Canada; Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Wilfred Laurier University, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael MacKinley
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sabrina D Ford
- Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Lena Palaniyappan
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada; Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Canada; Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, Canada
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12
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Bayer JMM, Spark J, Krcmar M, Formica M, Gwyther K, Srivastava A, Selloni A, Cotter M, Hartmann J, Polari A, Bilgrami ZR, Sarac C, Lu A, Yung AR, McGowan A, McGorry P, Shah JL, Cecchi GA, Mizrahi R, Nelson B, Corcoran CM. The SPEAK study rationale and design: A linguistic corpus-based approach to understanding thought disorder. Schizophr Res 2023; 259:80-87. [PMID: 36732110 PMCID: PMC10387495 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.12.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
AIM Psychotic symptoms are typically measured using clinical ratings, but more objective and sensitive metrics are needed. Hence, we will assess thought disorder using the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) heuristic for language production, and its recommended paradigm of "linguistic corpus-based analyses of language output". Positive thought disorder (e.g., tangentiality and derailment) can be assessed using word-embedding approaches that assess semantic coherence, whereas negative thought disorder (e.g., concreteness, poverty of speech) can be assessed using part-of-speech (POS) tagging to assess syntactic complexity. We aim to establish convergent validity of automated linguistic metrics with clinical ratings, assess normative demographic variance, determine cognitive and functional correlates, and replicate their predictive power for psychosis transition among at-risk youths. METHODS This study will assess language production in 450 English-speaking individuals in Australia and Canada, who have recent onset psychosis, are at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, or who are healthy volunteers, all well-characterized for cognition, function and symptoms. Speech will be elicited using open-ended interviews. Audio files will be transcribed and preprocessed for automated natural language processing (NLP) analyses of coherence and complexity. Data analyses include canonical correlation, multivariate linear regression with regularization, and machine-learning classification of group status and psychosis outcome. CONCLUSIONS This prospective study aims to characterize language disturbance across stages of psychosis using computational approaches, including psychometric properties, normative variance and clinical correlates, important for biomarker development. SPEAK will create a large archive of language data available to other investigators, a rich resource for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- J M M Bayer
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
| | - J Spark
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - M Krcmar
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - M Formica
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - K Gwyther
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - A Srivastava
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - A Selloni
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - M Cotter
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - J Hartmann
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - A Polari
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - C Sarac
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - A Lu
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Alison R Yung
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT), Deakin University, Australia; School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - A McGowan
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - P McGorry
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - J L Shah
- McGill Department of Psychiatry & Douglas Research Hospital, Montreal, Canada
| | - G A Cecchi
- IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
| | - R Mizrahi
- McGill Department of Psychiatry & Douglas Research Hospital, Montreal, Canada
| | - B Nelson
- Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - C M Corcoran
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; James J. Peters Veterans Administration, Bronx, NY, USA
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13
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Lundin NB, Cowan HR, Singh DK, Moe AM. Lower cohesion and altered first-person pronoun usage in the spoken life narratives of individuals with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2023; 259:140-149. [PMID: 37127466 PMCID: PMC10524354 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Usage of computational tools to quantify language disturbances among individuals with psychosis is increasing, improving measurement efficiency and access to fine-grained constructs. However, few studies apply automated linguistic analysis to life narratives in this population. Such research could facilitate the measurement of psychosis-relevant constructs such as sense of agency, capacity to organize one's personal history, narrative richness, and perceptions of the roles that others play in one's life. Furthermore, research is needed to understand how narrative linguistic features relate to cognitive and social functioning. In the present study, individuals with schizophrenia (n = 32) and individuals without a psychotic disorder (n = 15) produced personal life narratives within the Indiana Psychiatric Illness Interview. Narratives were analyzed using the Coh-Metrix computational tool. Linguistic variables analyzed were indices of connections within causal and goal-driven speech (deep cohesion), unique word usage (lexical diversity), and pronoun usage. Individuals with schizophrenia compared to control participants produced narratives that were lower in deep cohesion, contained more first-person singular pronouns, and contained fewer first-person plural pronouns. Narratives did not significantly differ between groups in lexical diversity, third-person pronoun usage, or total word count. Cognitive-linguistic relationships emerged in the full sample, including significant correlations between greater working memory capacity and greater deep cohesion and lexical diversity. In the schizophrenia group, social problem-solving abilities did not correlate with linguistic variables but were associated with cognition. Findings highlight the relevance of psychotherapies which aim to promote recovery among individuals with psychosis through the construction of coherent life narratives and increasing agency and social connectedness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy B Lundin
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, 1670 Upham Drive, Suite 460, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Henry R Cowan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, 1670 Upham Drive, Suite 460, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Divnoor K Singh
- Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, 1585 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Aubrey M Moe
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, 1670 Upham Drive, Suite 460, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
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14
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Just SA, Bröcker AL, Ryazanskaya G, Nenchev I, Schneider M, Bermpohl F, Heinz A, Montag C. Validation of natural language processing methods capturing semantic incoherence in the speech of patients with non-affective psychosis. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1208856. [PMID: 37564246 PMCID: PMC10411549 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1208856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Impairments in speech production are a core symptom of non-affective psychosis (NAP). While traditional clinical ratings of patients' speech involve a subjective human factor, modern methods of natural language processing (NLP) promise an automatic and objective way of analyzing patients' speech. This study aimed to validate NLP methods for analyzing speech production in NAP patients. Methods Speech samples from patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were obtained at two measurement points, 6 months apart. Out of N = 71 patients at T1, speech samples were also available for N = 54 patients at T2. Global and local models of semantic coherence as well as different word embeddings (word2vec vs. GloVe) were applied to the transcribed speech samples. They were tested and compared regarding their correlation with clinical ratings and external criteria from cross-sectional and longitudinal measurements. Results Results did not show differences for global vs. local coherence models and found more significant correlations between word2vec models and clinically relevant outcome variables than for GloVe models. Exploratory analysis of longitudinal data did not yield significant correlation with coherence scores. Conclusion These results indicate that natural language processing methods need to be critically validated in more studies and carefully selected before clinical application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Anna Just
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anna-Lena Bröcker
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Ivan Nenchev
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maria Schneider
- IPB Institut für Integrative Psychotherapieausbildung Berlin, MSB Medical School Berlin, GmbH, Berlin, Germany
| | - Felix Bermpohl
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andreas Heinz
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christiane Montag
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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15
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Schneider K, Leinweber K, Jamalabadi H, Teutenberg L, Brosch K, Pfarr JK, Thomas-Odenthal F, Usemann P, Wroblewski A, Straube B, Alexander N, Nenadić I, Jansen A, Krug A, Dannlowski U, Kircher T, Nagels A, Stein F. Syntactic complexity and diversity of spontaneous speech production in schizophrenia spectrum and major depressive disorders. SCHIZOPHRENIA (HEIDELBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 9:35. [PMID: 37248240 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-023-00359-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Syntax, the grammatical structure of sentences, is a fundamental aspect of language. It remains debated whether reduced syntactic complexity is unique to schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) or whether it is also present in major depressive disorder (MDD). Furthermore, the association of syntax (including syntactic complexity and diversity) with language-related neuropsychology and psychopathological symptoms across disorders remains unclear. Thirty-four SSD patients and thirty-eight MDD patients diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR as well as forty healthy controls (HC) were included and tasked with describing four pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test. We analyzed the produced speech regarding its syntax delineating measures for syntactic complexity (the total number of main clauses embedding subordinate clauses) and diversity (number of different types of complex sentences). We performed cluster analysis to identify clusters based on syntax and investigated associations of syntactic, to language-related neuropsychological (verbal fluency and verbal episodic memory), and psychopathological measures (positive and negative formal thought disorder) using network analyses. Syntax in SSD was significantly reduced in comparison to MDD and HC, whereas the comparison of HC and MDD revealed no significant differences. No associations were present between speech measures and current medication, duration and severity of illness, age or sex; the single association accounted for was education. A cluster analysis resulted in four clusters with different degrees of syntax across diagnoses. Subjects with less syntax exhibited pronounced positive and negative symptoms and displayed poorer performance in executive functioning, global functioning, and verbal episodic memory. All cluster-based networks indicated varying degrees of domain-specific and cross-domain connections. Measures of syntactic complexity were closely related while syntactic diversity appeared to be a separate node outside of the syntactic network. Cross-domain associations were more salient in more complex syntactic production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Schneider
- Department of English and Linguistics, General Linguistics, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
| | - Katrin Leinweber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Hamidreza Jamalabadi
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Lea Teutenberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Katharina Brosch
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Julia-Katharina Pfarr
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Florian Thomas-Odenthal
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Paula Usemann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Adrian Wroblewski
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Benjamin Straube
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Nina Alexander
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Igor Nenadić
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Jansen
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Axel Krug
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Udo Dannlowski
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Tilo Kircher
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Arne Nagels
- Department of English and Linguistics, General Linguistics, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Frederike Stein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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Limongi R, Silva AM, Mackinley M, Ford SD, Palaniyappan L. Active Inference, Epistemic Value, and Uncertainty in Conceptual Disorganization in First-Episode Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2023; 49:S115-S124. [PMID: 36946528 PMCID: PMC10031740 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbac125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Active inference has become an influential concept in psychopathology. We apply active inference to investigate conceptual disorganization in first-episode schizophrenia. We conceptualize speech production as a decision-making process affected by the latent "conceptual organization"-as a special case of uncertainty about the causes of sensory information. Uncertainty is both minimized via speech production-in which function words index conceptual organization in terms of analytic thinking-and tracked by a domain-general salience network. We hypothesize that analytic thinking depends on conceptual organization. Therefore, conceptual disorganization in schizophrenia would be both indexed by low conceptual organization and reflected in the effective connectivity within the salience network. STUDY DESIGN With 1-minute speech samples from a picture description task and resting state fMRI from 30 patients and 30 healthy subjects, we employed dynamic causal and probabilistic graphical models to investigate if the effective connectivity of the salience network underwrites conceptual organization. STUDY RESULTS Low analytic thinking scores index low conceptual organization which affects diagnostic status. The influence of the anterior insula on the anterior cingulate cortex and the self-inhibition within the anterior cingulate cortex are elevated given low conceptual organization (ie, conceptual disorganization). CONCLUSIONS Conceptual organization, a construct that explains formal thought disorder, can be modeled in an active inference framework and studied in relation to putative neural substrates of disrupted language in schizophrenia. This provides a critical advance to move away from rating-scale scores to deeper constructs in the pursuit of the pathophysiology of formal thought disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Limongi
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | | | - Michael Mackinley
- Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | | | - Lena Palaniyappan
- Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Palaniyappan L, Homan P, Alonso-Sanchez MF. Language Network Dysfunction and Formal Thought Disorder in Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2023; 49:486-497. [PMID: 36305160 PMCID: PMC10016399 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbac159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pathophysiological inquiries into schizophrenia require a consideration of one of its most defining features: disorganization and impoverishment in verbal behavior. This feature, often captured using the term Formal Thought Disorder (FTD), still remains to be one of the most poorly understood and understudied dimensions of schizophrenia. In particular, the large-scale network level dysfunction that contributes to FTD remains obscure to date. STUDY DESIGN In this narrative review, we consider the various challenges that need to be addressed for us to move towards mapping FTD (construct) to a brain network level account (circuit). STUDY RESULTS The construct-to-circuit mapping goal is now becoming more plausible than it ever was, given the parallel advent of brain stimulation and the tools providing objective readouts of human speech. Notwithstanding this, several challenges remain to be overcome before we can decisively map the neural basis of FTD. We highlight the need for phenotype refinement, robust experimental designs, informed analytical choices, and present plausible targets in and beyond the Language Network for brain stimulation studies in FTD. CONCLUSIONS Developing a therapeutically beneficial pathophysiological model of FTD is a challenging endeavor, but holds the promise of improving interpersonal communication and reducing social disability in schizophrenia. Addressing the issues raised in this review will be a decisive step in this direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Palaniyappan
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, Canada
| | - Philipp Homan
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Maria F Alonso-Sanchez
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- CIDCL, Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
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Bora E, Verim B, Akgul O, Ildız A, Ceylan D, Alptekin K, Özerdem A, Akdede BB. Clinical and developmental characteristics of cognitive subgroups in a transdiagnostic sample of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2023; 68:47-56. [PMID: 36640733 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2022.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 12/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Evidence suggests that neurocognitive dysfunction is a transdiagnostic feature of individuals across the continuum between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, there is significant heterogeneity of neuropsychological and social-cognitive abilities in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. The current study aimed to investigate the clinical and developmental characteristics of cognitive subgroups within the schizo-bipolar spectrum. 147 clinically stable patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective or bipolar disorder were assessed using clinical rating scales for current psychotic and affective symptoms, and a comprehensive neuropsychological battery including measures of social cognition (Hinting and Reading the mind from the Eyes (RMET) task)). Developmental history and premorbid academic functioning were also evaluated. The study also included 36 healthy controls. Neurocognitive subgroups were investigated using latent class analysis (LCA). The optimal number of clusters was determined based on the Bayesian information criterion. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the predictors of membership to the globally impaired subgroup. LCA revealed two neurocognitive clusters including globally impaired (n = 89, 60.5%) and near-normal cognitive functioning (n = 58, 39.5%) subgroups. The near-normal cognitive functioning subgroup was not significantly different from healthy controls. The globally impaired subgroup had a higher score of developmental abnormalities (p<0.001), poorer premorbid academic functioning, mothers who were less educated and more severe disorganized speech (p = 0.001) and negative symptoms (p = 0.004) compared to the near-normal cognitive functioning group. History of developmental abnormalities and persistent disorganization rather than diagnosis are significant predictors of the subgroup of individuals with global cognitive impairment in the schizophrenia-bipolar disorder continuum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emre Bora
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Carlton South, Victoria 3053, Australia; Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey.
| | - Burcu Verim
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Ozge Akgul
- Department of Psychology, İzmir Demokrasi University, İzmir, Turkey
| | - Ayşegül Ildız
- Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Deniz Ceylan
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Köksal Alptekin
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Ayşegül Özerdem
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic Depression Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Berna Binnur Akdede
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Neurosciences, Health Sciences Institute, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
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Warner H, Cometz A. Interdisciplinary considerations for diagnosing aphasia in the schizoaffective patient: A case report. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2023; 58:433-440. [PMID: 36484350 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Patients with schizophrenia present with both cognitive impairment as well as language difficulties. There are similarities in the language output of patients with schizophrenia and patients with aphasia, thus a differential diagnosis of patients who present with a question of dual diagnoses can be a clinical challenge. This case report highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to a patient with schizophrenia who benefitted from intervention from both psychiatry and speech-language pathology services due to the patient's unique verbal output. AIMS The primary aim of this case report is to highlight the critical importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in this patient population. The secondary aim is to disseminate an interesting and unique clinical phenomenon whereby the patient demonstrated an awareness of two distinct speech patterns and the unique ability to 'code switch' between them, something not commonly appreciated in this clinical population. METHODS & PROCEDURES This case report describes a patient seen as part of routine clinical care. Information shared was solely observational and involved dissemination of information regarding case history, assessment and treatment plan. No interventions were implemented as a part of this study. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Interprofessional communication was critical in order to diagnose a patient with schizophrenia with an atypical speech pattern. The patient's language output did not manifest as a true aphasia but rather as two distinct language patterns that the patient could use at will. This ability to 'code switch' between languages is a unique clinical profile that is atypical of patients with schizophrenia. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on this subject Contemporary literature discusses the similarities between the language patterns of patients with aphasia and those with schizophrenia. There has been debate about how to classify and identify the mechanism of schizophrenic language. It is unclear whether the tangential press of speech in schizophrenia is a consequence of a formal thought disorder, or whether it constitutes an actual disorder or expressive language. Additionally, the mechanism for this speech pattern is not well defined in the literature as there is no consensus on whether it is a breakdown in linguistic processing or simply a patient's disordered thoughts being put into words. A less robust literature exists that suggests that there is a cognitive mechanism responsible for these speech patterns, as tangential speech has been linked to poor goal maintenance in other types of cognitive tasks. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study adds an important discussion about the critical importance of interprofessional collaboration when differentially diagnosing this complex patient population. It highlights the importance of the clinical exchange of information between the two disciplines of psychiatry and speech-language pathology about a patient population where clinical information is intertwined in the way described above. Regardless of the cause of the disordered output, what is lacking in the literature is evidence of how to address the complexities of the output of these patients and how to best manage the care of the patient. This study adds a practical clinical approach to collaborating on the assessment and management of this complex patient population. Importantly, it adds a description of a clinical manifestation of the language output of a patient with schizophrenia that we do not believe to have been previously published in the literature. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Implications of this study include a much-needed shift in the field in two regards. First, to include this patient population in the groups of patients that can benefit from interprofessional collaboration for differential diagnosis and consideration for speech and language therapy. Second, it offers a practical clinical approach to inter-professional management in this patient population, something the literature is currently lacking. Additionally, publication of this unique clinical manifestation provides foundational knowledge for other clinicians appreciating similar clinical patterns of language output. To our knowledge, this is the first published case in which a patient could volitionally inhibit certain speech characteristics and thus this case study may assist in future differential diagnosis of patients with schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather Warner
- Department of Communication Disorders, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Alexa Cometz
- Speech and Swallow Center, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA
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Minor KS, Lundin NB, Myers EJ, Fernández-Villardón A, Lysaker PH. Automated measures of speech content and speech organization in schizophrenia: Test-retest reliability and generalizability across demographic variables. Psychiatry Res 2023; 320:115048. [PMID: 36645988 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2022] [Revised: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Technological advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing have increased efficiency of assessing speech content and speech organization in schizophrenia. Despite these developments, there has been little focus on the psychometrics of these approaches. Using two common assessments, the current study addressed this gap by: 1) measuring test-retest reliability; and 2) assessing whether speech content and/or speech organization generalize across demographics. To test these aims, we examined psychometric properties of the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), a speech content measure, and the Coh-Metrix, a speech organization measure. Across baseline to six month (n = 101) and baseline to one year (n = 47) narrative speech samples, we generally observed fair reliability for speech content measures and fair to good reliability for speech organization measures. Regarding demographics, multiple speech indices varied by race, income, and education. The lack of excellent reliability scores for speech indices holds important implications for examining speech variables in clinical trials and highlights the dynamic nature of speech. This work illustrates the importance of designing speech content and speech organization measures with external validity across demographic factors. Future studies examining speech in schizophrenia should account for potential biases against demographic groups introduced by linguistic analysis tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle S Minor
- Department of Psychology, Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
| | - Nancy B Lundin
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Evan J Myers
- Department of Psychology, Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, United States
| | | | - Paul H Lysaker
- Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States
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Gil-Berrozpe GJ, Peralta V, Sánchez-Torres AM, Moreno-Izco L, García de Jalón E, Peralta D, Janda L, Cuesta MJ. Psychopathological networks in psychosis: Changes over time and clinical relevance. A long-term cohort study of first-episode psychosis. Schizophr Res 2023; 252:23-32. [PMID: 36621323 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.12.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND First-episode psychosis is a critical period for early interventions to reduce the risk of poor outcomes and relapse as much as possible. However, uncertainties about the long-term outcomes of symptomatology remain to be ascertained. METHODS The aim of the present study was to use network analysis to investigate first-episode and long-term stages of psychosis at three levels of analysis: micro, meso and macro. The sample was a cohort of 510 patients with first-episode psychoses from the SEGPEP study, who were reassessed at the long-term follow-up (n = 243). We used the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History for their assessments and lifetime outcome variables of clinical relevance. RESULTS Our results showed a similar pattern of clustering between first episodes and long-term follow-up in seven psychopathological dimensions at the micro level, 3 and 4 dimensions at the meso level, and one at the macro level. They also revealed significant differences between first-episode and long-term network structure and centrality measures at the three levels, showing that disorganization symptoms have more influence in long-term stabilized patients. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest a relative clustering invariance at all levels, with the presence of two domains of disorganization as the most notorious difference over time at micro level. The severity of disorganization at the follow-up was associated with a more severe course of the psychosis. Moreover, a relative stability in global strength of the interconnections was found, even though the network structure varied significantly in the long-term follow-up. The macro level was helpful in the integration of all dimensions into a common psychopathology factor, and in unveiling the strong relationships of psychopathological dimensions with lifetime outcomes, such as negative with poor functioning, disorganization with high antipsychotic dose-years, and delusions with poor adherence to treatment. These results add evidence to the hierarchical, dimensional and longitudinal structure of psychopathological symptoms and their clinical relevance in first-episode psychoses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo J Gil-Berrozpe
- Department of Psychiatry, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain
| | - Victor Peralta
- Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain; Mental Health Department, Servicio Navarro de Salud - Osasunbidea, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Ana M Sánchez-Torres
- Department of Psychiatry, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain
| | - Lucía Moreno-Izco
- Department of Psychiatry, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain
| | - Elena García de Jalón
- Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain; Mental Health Department, Servicio Navarro de Salud - Osasunbidea, Pamplona, Spain
| | - David Peralta
- Mental Health Department, Servicio Navarro de Salud - Osasunbidea, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Lucía Janda
- Mental Health Department, Servicio Navarro de Salud - Osasunbidea, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Manuel J Cuesta
- Department of Psychiatry, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain.
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Günay Yağci Z, Boztaş MH. Examination of the Relationship Between the Theory of Mind, Neurocognitive Functions and Thought-Language Features in the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Affective Disorder I Groups. TURK PSIKIYATRI DERGISI = TURKISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY 2023; 34:68-79. [PMID: 37357893 PMCID: PMC10552173 DOI: 10.5080/u26401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship of ToM with face-emotion recognition, executive functions and thought disorders in the schizophrenia (SC) and bipolar affective disorder I (BAD I) groups. METHOD 40 SC, 40 BAD I and 40 healthy control groups were included, matched for age, gender, and educational status. Dokuz Eylül Theory of Mind Scale (DEToMS)) and Reading Mind in Eyes (RMET) test, Benton face recognition test (BFRT), Ekman emotion recognition battery, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop test, Thought and Language Index (TLI) were used. Positive and Negative Symptoms Rating Scale (PANNS) in the SZ group, Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) in the BAD I group were used. RESULTS The number of perseverative responses in WSCT was higher in the SC group than the BAD I group. Recognition of the fearful expression scores, DEToMS total and subscale scores except irony were higher and scores of TLI were lower in healthy controls more than patients group. Recognition of the fearful expression scores, DEToMS total and subscale scores except irony were higher and scores of TLI were lower in BAD I group more than SC group. There was no difference between SC and BAD I groups between BFRT, emotion recognition except fearful expression and RMET scores. The best predictors of DEToMS were executive functions and TLI total score in the SC group and was emotion recognition in the BAD I group. The best predictors of the RMET score were executive functions and emotion recognition for both groups. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that social cognition remains a biomarker in patients with SZ and BAD I.
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Sumner PJ, Meyer D, Carruthers SP, Amirul Islam FM, Rossell SL. Assessing the dimensionality of scores derived from the Revised Formal Thought Disorder Self-Report Scale in schizotypy. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0278841. [PMID: 36490258 PMCID: PMC9733900 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The current work explored the dimensionality and convergent validity of responses to Barrera et al.'s (2015) 29-item Formal Thought Disorder-Self Scale (FTD-SS) obtained in two non-clinical samples. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted in Sample 1 (n = 324), yielding evidence of three correlated factors, although simple structure was not achieved until nine items were removed. Support for the correlated three factors model of responses to the revised 20-item scale (FTD-SS-R) was replicated when a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in Sample 2 (n = 610). Finally, convergent associations were found between FTD-SS-R scores and scores from other schizotypy measures across both samples, though these measures only explained half of the variance in FTD-SS-R scores. Additional research is needed to evaluate the appropriateness of the items and incremental validity of the scale in non-clinical samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip J. Sumner
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Denny Meyer
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Sean P. Carruthers
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Fakir M. Amirul Islam
- Department of Health Science and Biostatistics, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Susan L. Rossell
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Mental Health, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Thought disorder is correlated with atypical spoken binomial orderings. SCHIZOPHRENIA 2022; 8:25. [PMID: 35304875 PMCID: PMC8933394 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-022-00238-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Thought disorder may be associated with subtle language abnormalities. Binomials are pairs of words of the same grammatical type that are joined by a conjunction that often have a preferred order (for example, “up and down” is more common than “down and up”). We analyzed speech transcripts from patients with first-episode psychosis and found that atypical ordering of binomial pairs was associated with thought disorder but not with other psychosis symptoms. These results illustrate the potential to generate objective, quantifiable measures of disorganized speech.
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Argote M, Sescousse G, Brunelin J, Fakra E, Nourredine M, Rolland B. Association between formal thought disorder and cannabis use: a systematic review and meta-analysis. SCHIZOPHRENIA 2022; 8:78. [PMID: 36175509 PMCID: PMC9523063 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-022-00286-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
AbstractFormal thought disorder (FTD) is a multidimensional syndrome mainly occurring along the psychosis continuum. Cannabis use is known to increase symptoms of psychosis, particularly positive symptoms. However, the impact of cannabis use on FTD in individuals presenting symptoms along the psychosis continuum remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a meta-analysis examining the association between cannabis use and FTD in those individuals. We hypothesized that cannabis would worsen FTD. We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, ScienceDirect, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Embase and Google Scholar databases up to July 2022. The results were collated through a random-effects model using the statistical software R. Reference lists of included studies were searched for additional relevant publications. Nineteen studies were included, totalling 1840 cannabis users and 3351 non-cannabis users. The severity of FTD was found to be higher in cannabis users (SMD = 0.21, 95%CI [0.12–0.29], p = 0.00009). Subgroup analyses revealed that FTD severity was increased among cannabis users, regardless of the disorder severity: healthy individuals (SMD = 0.19, 95%CI [0.05–0.33], p = 0.02); patients with first-episode psychosis (SMD = 0.21, 95%CI [0.01–0.41], p = 0.04); patients with schizophrenia (SMD = 0.25, 95%CI [0.11–0.38], p = 0.005). Between-group differences were not significant. In line with its already known effect on positive symptoms in psychosis, cannabis use appears to be associated with increased FTD severity all along the psychosis continuum. Future research should consider potential confounding variables such as other substance use disorders and explore how FTD dimensions are impacted by cannabis use.
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Liang L, Silva AM, Jeon P, Ford SD, MacKinley M, Théberge J, Palaniyappan L. Widespread cortical thinning, excessive glutamate and impaired linguistic functioning in schizophrenia: A cluster analytic approach. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:954898. [PMID: 35992940 PMCID: PMC9390601 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.954898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Symptoms of schizophrenia are closely related to aberrant language comprehension and production. Macroscopic brain changes seen in some patients with schizophrenia are suspected to relate to impaired language production, but this is yet to be reliably characterized. Since heterogeneity in language dysfunctions, as well as brain structure, is suspected in schizophrenia, we aimed to first seek patient subgroups with different neurobiological signatures and then quantify linguistic indices that capture the symptoms of "negative formal thought disorder" (i.e., fluency, cohesion, and complexity of language production). Methods Atlas-based cortical thickness values (obtained with a 7T MRI scanner) of 66 patients with first-episode psychosis and 36 healthy controls were analyzed with hierarchical clustering algorithms to produce neuroanatomical subtypes. We then examined the generated subtypes and investigated the quantitative differences in MRS-based glutamate levels [in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)] as well as in three aspects of language production features: fluency, syntactic complexity, and lexical cohesion. Results Two neuroanatomical subtypes among patients were observed, one with near-normal cortical thickness patterns while the other with widespread cortical thinning. Compared to the subgroup of patients with relatively normal cortical thickness patterns, the subgroup with widespread cortical thinning was older, with higher glutamate concentration in dACC and produced speech with reduced mean length of T-units (complexity) and lower repeats of content words (lexical cohesion), despite being equally fluent (number of words). Conclusion We characterized a patient subgroup with thinner cortex in first-episode psychosis. This subgroup, identifiable through macroscopic changes, is also distinguishable in terms of neurochemistry (frontal glutamate) and language behavior (complexity and cohesion of speech). This study supports the hypothesis that glutamate-mediated cortical thinning may contribute to a phenotype that is detectable using the tools of computational linguistics in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liangbing Liang
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | | | - Peter Jeon
- Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Sabrina D. Ford
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- London Health Sciences Centre, Victoria Hospital, London, ON, Canada
| | - Michael MacKinley
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | - Jean Théberge
- Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Lena Palaniyappan
- Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Bilgrami ZR, Sarac C, Srivastava A, Herrera SN, Azis M, Haas SS, Shaik RB, Parvaz MA, Mittal VA, Cecchi G, Corcoran CM. Construct validity for computational linguistic metrics in individuals at clinical risk for psychosis: Associations with clinical ratings. Schizophr Res 2022; 245:90-96. [PMID: 35094918 PMCID: PMC10062407 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2021] [Revised: 01/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Language deficits are prevalent in psychotic illness, including its risk states, and are related to marked impairment in functioning. It is therefore important to characterize language impairment in the psychosis spectrum in order to develop potential preventive interventions. Natural language processing (NLP) metrics of semantic coherence and syntactic complexity have been used to discriminate schizophrenia patients from healthy controls (HC) and predict psychosis onset in individuals at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis. To date, no studies have yet examined the construct validity of key NLP features with respect to clinical ratings of thought disorder in a CHR cohort. Herein we test the association of key NLP metrics of coherence and complexity with ratings of positive and negative thought disorder, respectively, in 60 CHR individuals, using Andreasen's Scale of Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC) Scale to measure of positive and negative thought disorder. As hypothesized, in CHR individuals, the NLP metric of semantic coherence was significantly correlated with positive thought disorder severity and the NLP metrics of complexity (sentence length and determiner use) were correlated with negative thought disorder severity. The finding of construct validity supports the premise that NLP analytics, at least in respect to core features of reduction of coherence and complexity, are capturing clinically relevant language disturbances in risk states for psychosis. Further psychometric study is required, in respect to reliability and other forms of validity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zarina R Bilgrami
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA; Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Cansu Sarac
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA; Department of Psychology, Long Island University-Brooklyn, 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Matilda Azis
- Department of Psychosis Studies, Kings College, London, UK
| | | | - Riaz B Shaik
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Vijay A Mittal
- Northwestern University, Department of Psychology, Evanston, IL, USA
| | | | - Cheryl M Corcoran
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA; James J. Peters VA Medical Center Bronx, NY, USA
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The shallow cognitive map hypothesis: A hippocampal framework for thought disorder in schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA (HEIDELBERG, GERMANY) 2022; 8:34. [PMID: 35853896 PMCID: PMC9261089 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-022-00247-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Memories are not formed in isolation. They are associated and organized into relational knowledge structures that allow coherent thought. Failure to express such coherent thought is a key hallmark of Schizophrenia. Here we explore the hypothesis that thought disorder arises from disorganized Hippocampal cognitive maps. In doing so, we combine insights from two key lines of investigation, one concerning the neural signatures of cognitive mapping, and another that seeks to understand lower-level cellular mechanisms of cognition within a dynamical systems framework. Specifically, we propose that multiple distinct pathological pathways converge on the shallowing of Hippocampal attractors, giving rise to disorganized Hippocampal cognitive maps and driving conceptual disorganization. We discuss the available evidence at the computational, behavioural, network, and cellular levels. We also outline testable predictions from this framework, including how it could unify major chemical and psychological theories of schizophrenia and how it can provide a rationale for understanding the aetiology and treatment of the disease.
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Stein F, Buckenmayer E, Brosch K, Meller T, Schmitt S, Ringwald KG, Pfarr JK, Steinsträter O, Enneking V, Grotegerd D, Heindel W, Meinert S, Leehr EJ, Lemke H, Thiel K, Waltemate L, Winter A, Hahn T, Dannlowski U, Jansen A, Nenadić I, Krug A, Kircher T. Dimensions of Formal Thought Disorder and Their Relation to Gray- and White Matter Brain Structure in Affective and Psychotic Disorders. Schizophr Bull 2022; 48:902-911. [PMID: 35064667 PMCID: PMC9212109 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbac002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Factorial dimensions and neurobiological underpinnings of formal thought disorders (FTD) have been extensively investigated in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). However, FTD are also highly prevalent in other disorders. Still, there is a lack of knowledge about transdiagnostic, structural brain correlates of FTD. In N = 1071 patients suffering from DSM-IV major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or SSD, we calculated a psychopathological factor model of FTD based on the SAPS and SANS scales. We tested the association of FTD dimensions with 3 T MRI measured gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) using regression and interaction models in SPM12. We performed post hoc confirmatory analyses in diagnostically equally distributed, age- and sex-matched sub-samples to test whether results were driven by diagnostic categories. Cross-validation (explorative and confirmatory) factor analyses revealed three psychopathological FTD factors: disorganization, emptiness, and incoherence. Disorganization was negatively correlated with a GMV cluster comprising parts of the middle occipital and angular gyri and positively with FA in the right posterior cingulum bundle and inferior longitudinal fascicle. Emptiness was negatively associated with left hippocampus and thalamus GMV. Incoherence was negatively associated with FA in bilateral anterior thalamic radiation, and positively with the hippocampal part of the right cingulum bundle. None of the gray or white matter associations interacted with diagnosis. Our results provide a refined mapping of cross-disorder FTD phenotype dimensions. For the first time, we demonstrated that their neuroanatomical signatures are associated with language-related gray and white matter structures independent of diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederike Stein
- To whom correspondence should be addressed; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Str. 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany; tel: +49-6421-58 63831, fax: +49-6421-58 65197, e-mail:
| | - Elena Buckenmayer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Katharina Brosch
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Tina Meller
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Simon Schmitt
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Kai Gustav Ringwald
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Julia Katharina Pfarr
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Olaf Steinsträter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Core-Facility Brainimaging, Faculty of Medicine, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Verena Enneking
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Dominik Grotegerd
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Walter Heindel
- Department of Radiology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Susanne Meinert
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany,Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Elisabeth J Leehr
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Hannah Lemke
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Katharina Thiel
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Lena Waltemate
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Alexandra Winter
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Tim Hahn
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Udo Dannlowski
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Andreas Jansen
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Core-Facility Brainimaging, Faculty of Medicine, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Igor Nenadić
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Axel Krug
- Department of Psychiatry und Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Tilo Kircher
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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Association between formal thought disorders, neurocognition and functioning in the early stages of psychosis: a systematic review of the last half-century studies. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2022; 272:381-393. [PMID: 34263359 PMCID: PMC8938342 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-021-01295-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Recent review articles provided an extensive collection of studies covering many aspects of format thought disorders (FTD) among their epidemiology and phenomenology, their neurobiological underpinnings, genetics as well as their transdiagnostic prevalence. However, less attention has been paid to the association of FTD with neurocognitive and functioning deficits in the early stages of evolving psychosis. Therefore, this systematic review aims to investigate the state of the art regarding the association between FTD, neurocognition and functioning in the early stages of evolving psychotic disorders in adolescents and young adults, by following the PRISMA flowchart. A total of 106 studies were screened. We included 8 studies due to their reports of associations between FTD measures and functioning outcomes measured with different scales and 7 studies due to their reports of associations between FTD measures and neurocognition. In summary, the main findings of the included studies for functioning outcomes showed that FTD severity predicted poor social functioning, unemployment, relapses, re-hospitalisations, whereas the main findings of the included studies for neurocognition showed correlations between attentional deficits, executive functions and FTD, and highlighted the predictive potential of executive dysfunctions for sustained FTD. Further studies in upcoming years taking advantage of the acceleration in computational psychiatry would allow researchers to re-investigate the clinical importance of FTD and their role in the transition from at-risk to full-blown psychosis conditions. Employing automated computer-assisted diagnostic tools in the early stages of psychosis might open new avenues to develop targeted neuropsychotherapeutics specific to FTD.
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31
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The clinical relevance of formal thought disorder in the early stages of psychosis: results from the PRONIA study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2022; 272:403-413. [PMID: 34535813 PMCID: PMC8938366 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-021-01327-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Formal thought disorder (FTD) has been associated with more severe illness courses and functional deficits in patients with psychotic disorders. However, it remains unclear whether the presence of FTD characterises a specific subgroup of patients showing more prominent illness severity, neurocognitive and functional impairments. This study aimed to identify stable and generalizable FTD-subgroups of patients with recent-onset psychosis (ROP) by applying a comprehensive data-driven clustering approach and to test the validity of these subgroups by assessing associations between this FTD-related stratification, social and occupational functioning, and neurocognition. METHODS 279 patients with ROP were recruited as part of the multi-site European PRONIA study (Personalised Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management; www.pronia.eu). Five FTD-related symptoms (conceptual disorganization, poverty of content of speech, difficulty in abstract thinking, increased latency of response and poverty of speech) were assessed with Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). RESULTS The results with two patient subgroups showing different levels of FTD were the most stable and generalizable clustering solution (predicted clustering strength value = 0.86). FTD-High subgroup had lower scores in social (pfdr < 0.001) and role (pfdr < 0.001) functioning, as well as worse neurocognitive performance in semantic (pfdr < 0.001) and phonological verbal fluency (pfdr < 0.001), short-term verbal memory (pfdr = 0.002) and abstract thinking (pfdr = 0.010), in comparison to FTD-Low group. CONCLUSIONS Clustering techniques allowed us to identify patients with more pronounced FTD showing more severe deficits in functioning and neurocognition, thus suggesting that FTD may be a relevant marker of illness severity in the early psychosis pathway.
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Omelchenko MA, Arutyunova EV, Butashin AD, Ivanova EM. [Testing of the Russian-language version of the Thought, Language and Communication Scale]. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova 2022; 122:116-120. [PMID: 36279237 DOI: 10.17116/jnevro2022122101116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To analyze the possibilities of using the Russian version of the Thought, Language and Communication Scale (TLC) for early recognition of thought disorders in patients at clinical high-risk for schizophrenia. MATERIAL AND METHODS For the main group, the study included 30 adolescent male patients (19.2±2.2 years) hospitalized with the first depressive episode (ICD-10: F32.1, F32.2, F32.28, F32.8), who demonstrated attenuated schizophrenic symptoms (ASS) in the structure of the depression, which made it possible to attribute the patients to the group of clinical high-risk for schizophrenia. The control group consisted of 27 mentally healthy adolescent males (20.0±2.3 years). In both groups, the severity of thought impairment was assessed using the TLC scale. Psychopathological, psychometric and statistical methods were used. RESULTS The median values of the severity of thought impairment using the TLC scale were 20 points [19.75; 26] in the main group, 10.5 points [9.25; 13] in the control group, with a high degree of statistical significance (p<0.001). The most significant differences (p<0.001) were found in following parameters: Incoherence (2 [1; 3] vs 1 [0; 1]), Tangentiality (2 [2; 2] vs 1 [0; 2]), Derailment (2 [1.25; 2] vs 1 [0.5; 2]), Illogical thinking (2 [2; 2.75] vs 0 [0; 1]), Loss of goal (1 [0; 2] vs 0 [0; 0]) and Blocking (1 [0; 1] vs 0 [0; 0] accordingly). CONCLUSION Specific, not related to depression, disorders of thinking in patients of the clinical group, which indicates signs of disorganization of thinking and suggests the beginning of the endogenous process of the schizophrenic pole were found. The results show that the TLC scale can be used to detect early cognitive disorders in patients at risk of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - A D Butashin
- Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia
| | - E M Ivanova
- Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia
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33
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Achim AM, Achim A, Fossard M. Referential communication in people with recent-onset schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:971256. [PMID: 36159951 PMCID: PMC9500190 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.971256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
People with schizophrenia present with language production impairments, yet very few studies examine language production in the context of collaborative, verbal interaction tasks performed with a real interaction partner. The current study relied on a referential communication paradigm in which participants with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC) presented a series of movie characters to their interaction partner, whose role was to identify and place the characters in the same order. The HC spontaneously provided more information when presenting characters that their interaction partner was unlikely to know than when presenting very well-known characters, and the magnitude of this adjustment was positively correlated with their performance on a theory of mind task. In contrast, people with SZ showed a significantly reduced (absent) adjustment to the likely-known vs. likely-unknown nature of the characters, and no correlation emerged with ToM. Further examination of the verbal productions revealed that HC often combined movie-related information (ex: character's name or movie title) and descriptive information whereas people with SZ more often used description only to present the characters. Overall, this study adds to our knowledge about referential choices in SZ in the context of collaborative verbal interactions with a real interaction partner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amélie M Achim
- Département de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.,Centre de Recherche CERVO and Centre de Recherche VITAM, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - André Achim
- Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Marion Fossard
- Institut des Sciences Logopédiques, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
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34
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Rosen C, Harrow M, Tong L, Jobe T, Harrow H. A word is worth a thousand pictures: A 20-year comparative analysis of aberrant abstraction in schizophrenia, affective psychosis, and non-psychotic depression. Schizophr Res 2021; 238:1-9. [PMID: 34562832 PMCID: PMC8633069 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2021.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
thinking is a cognitive process that involves the assimilation of concepts reduced from diffuse sensory input, organized, and interpreted in a manner beyond the obvious. There are multiple facets by which abstraction is measured that include semantic, visual-spatial and social comprehension. This study examined the prevalence and course of abstract and concrete responses to semantic proverbs and aberrant abstraction (composite score of semantic, visual-spatial, and social comprehension) over 20 years in 352 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia, affective psychosis, and unipolar non-psychotic depression. We utilized linear models, two-way ANOVA and contrasts to compare groups and change over time. Linear models with Generalized Estimation Equation (GEE) to determine association. Our findings show that regardless of diagnosis, semantic proverb interpretation improves over time. Participants with schizophrenia give more concrete responses to proverbs when compared to affective psychosis and unipolar depressed without psychosis. We also show that the underlying structure of concretism encompasses increased conceptual overinclusion at index hospitalization and idiosyncratic associations at follow-up; whereas, abstract thinking overtime encompasses increased visual-spatial abstraction at index and rich associations with increased social comprehension scores at follow-up. Regardless of diagnosis, premorbid functioning, descriptive characteristics, and IQ were not associated with aberrant abstraction. Delusions are highly and positively related to aberrant abstraction scores, while hallucinations are mildly and positively related to this score. Lastly, our data point to the importance of examining the underlying interconnected structures of 'established' constructs vis-à-vis mixed methods to provide a description of the rich interior world that may not always map onto current quantitative measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cherise Rosen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Martin Harrow
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Liping Tong
- Advocate Aurora Health, Downers Grove, IL, USA
| | - Tom Jobe
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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35
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Griffiths SL, Leighton SP, Mallikarjun PK, Blake G, Everard L, Jones PB, Fowler D, Hodgekins J, Amos T, Freemantle N, Sharma V, Marshall M, McCrone P, Singh SP, Birchwood M, Upthegrove R. Structure and stability of symptoms in first episode psychosis: a longitudinal network approach. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:567. [PMID: 34743179 PMCID: PMC8572227 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01687-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Early psychosis is characterised by heterogeneity in illness trajectories, where outcomes remain poor for many. Understanding psychosis symptoms and their relation to illness outcomes, from a novel network perspective, may help to delineate psychopathology within early psychosis and identify pivotal targets for intervention. Using network modelling in first episode psychosis (FEP), this study aimed to identify: (a) key central and bridge symptoms most influential in symptom networks, and (b) examine the structure and stability of the networks at baseline and 12-month follow-up. Data on 1027 participants with FEP were taken from the National EDEN longitudinal study and used to create regularised partial correlation networks using the 'EBICglasso' algorithm for positive, negative, and depressive symptoms at baseline and at 12-months. Centrality and bridge estimations were computed using a permutation-based network comparison test. Depression featured as a central symptom in both the baseline and 12-month networks. Conceptual disorganisation, stereotyped thinking, along with hallucinations and suspiciousness featured as key bridge symptoms across the networks. The network comparison test revealed that the strength and bridge centralities did not differ significantly between the two networks (C = 0.096153; p = 0.22297). However, the network structure and connectedness differed significantly from baseline to follow-up (M = 0.16405, p = <0.0001; S = 0.74536, p = 0.02), with several associations between psychosis and depressive items differing significantly by 12 months. Depressive symptoms, in addition to symptoms of thought disturbance (e.g. conceptual disorganisation and stereotyped thinking), may be examples of important, under-recognized treatment targets in early psychosis, which may have the potential to lead to global symptom improvements and better recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Samuel P Leighton
- Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | | | - Georgina Blake
- College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Linda Everard
- Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK
| | - Peter B Jones
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and CAMEO, Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | - David Fowler
- Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | | | - Tim Amos
- Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Nick Freemantle
- Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Vimal Sharma
- Early Intervention Service, Cheshire and Wirral NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK
| | - Max Marshall
- Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, Preston, UK
| | - Paul McCrone
- Institute for Life Course Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - Swaran P Singh
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Max Birchwood
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Rachel Upthegrove
- Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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36
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Fuentes-Claramonte P, López-Araquistain L, Sarró S, Sans-Sansa B, Ortiz-Gil J, Maristany T, Salvador R, McKenna PJ, Pomarol-Clotet E. Brain functional correlates of formal thought disorder in schizophrenia: examining the frontal/dysexecutive hypothesis. Psychol Med 2021; 51:2446-2453. [PMID: 32338241 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291720001063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND One hypothesis proposed to underlie formal thought disorder (FTD), the incoherent speech is seen in some patients with schizophrenia, is that it reflects impairment in frontal/executive function. While this proposal has received support in neuropsychological studies, it has been relatively little tested using functional imaging. This study aimed to examine brain activations associated with FTD, and its two main factor-analytically derived subsyndromes, during the performance of a working memory task. METHODS Seventy patients with schizophrenia showing a full range of FTD scores and 70 matched healthy controls underwent fMRI during the performance of the 2-back version of the n-back task. Whole-brain corrected, voxel-based correlations with FTD scores were examined in the patient group. RESULTS During 2-back performance the patients showed clusters of significant inverse correlation with FTD scores in the inferior frontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally, the left temporal cortex and subcortically in the basal ganglia and thalamus. Further analysis revealed that these correlations reflected an association only with 'alogia' (poverty of speech, poverty of content of speech and perseveration) and not with the 'fluent disorganization' component of FTD. CONCLUSIONS This study provides functional imaging support for the view that FTD in schizophrenia may involve impaired executive/frontal function. However, the relationship appears to be exclusively with alogia and not with the variables contributing to fluent disorganization.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Fuentes-Claramonte
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBERSAM, Spain
| | | | - S Sarró
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBERSAM, Spain
| | - B Sans-Sansa
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
| | - J Ortiz-Gil
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBERSAM, Spain
- Hospital de Granollers, Spain
| | | | - R Salvador
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBERSAM, Spain
| | - P J McKenna
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBERSAM, Spain
| | - E Pomarol-Clotet
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBERSAM, Spain
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37
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Palaniyappan L. Dissecting the neurobiology of linguistic disorganisation and impoverishment in schizophrenia. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2021; 129:47-60. [PMID: 34507903 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia provides a quintessential disease model of how disturbances in the molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopment lead to disruptions in the emergence of cognition. The central and often persistent feature of this illness is the disorganisation and impoverishment of language and related expressive behaviours. Though clinically more prominent, the periodic perceptual distortions characterised as psychosis are non-specific and often episodic. While several insights into psychosis have been gained based on study of the dopaminergic system, the mechanistic basis of linguistic disorganisation and impoverishment is still elusive. Key findings from cellular to systems-level studies highlight the role of ubiquitous, inhibitory processes in language production. Dysregulation of these processes at critical time periods, in key brain areas, provides a surprisingly parsimonious account of linguistic disorganisation and impoverishment in schizophrenia. This review links the notion of excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) imbalance at cortical microcircuits to the expression of language behaviour characteristic of schizophrenia, through the building blocks of neurochemistry, neurophysiology, and neurocognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Palaniyappan
- Department of Psychiatry,University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Robarts Research Institute,University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.
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Kølbæk P, Guinart D, Opler M, Correll CU, Mors O, Østergaard SD. Clinical validation of the Symptom Self-rating Scale for Schizophrenia (4S) among inpatients. Nord J Psychiatry 2021; 75:454-464. [PMID: 33630698 DOI: 10.1080/08039488.2021.1881821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Self-reports of psychosis-related symptoms may be a valuable supplement to clinician-ratings, but more validation studies are required. The aim of this study was to conduct clinical validation for the Symptom Self-rating Scale for Schizophrenia (4S) in an inpatient setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS Inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia were invited to participate in the study. The participants completed the 4S, the 5-item World Health Organization Wellbeing Index (WHO-5) and the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) at two time points. Trained raters assessed participants using the 6-item Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-6). The relationship between the 4S and PANSS-6, self-reported side effects, functioning and wellbeing was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient (rho). RESULTS Sixty-one participants completed the 4S at least once (yielding a total of 91 completed 4S questionnaires). The 4S total score was weakly correlated with the PANSS-6 total score (rho = 0.37, p < 0.001). The rho's for individual 4S and PANSS-6 subscales and item comparisons ranged from -0.24 (thought disorder) to 0.69 (hallucinations). Finally, the 4S hallucination subscale was also sensitive to change. The 4S was strongly inversely correlated with wellbeing (WHO-5) and moderately inversely correlated with functioning (SDS total score). CONCLUSION The 4S holds promise as a valid self-report of core schizophrenia symptoms among inpatients. While the hallucination subscale seems superior to existing scales, the thought disorder subscale needs to be re-developed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pernille Kølbæk
- Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital-Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Daniel Guinart
- Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
| | - Mark Opler
- MedAvante-ProPhase Inc, NY, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, NY, USA
| | - Christoph U Correll
- Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ole Mors
- Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital-Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Søren D Østergaard
- Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital-Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Affective Disorders, Aarhus University Hospital - Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark
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Deyo C, Langdon R. Cognitive correlates of 'Formal Thought Disorder' in a non-clinical sample with elevated schizotypal traits. Psychiatry Res 2021; 302:113971. [PMID: 34182311 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Different dimensions of formal thought disorder (FTD) are distinguished by different patterns of cognitive dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia; however, inconsistent findings may relate to patient-related confounds. To avoid these confounds, we examined relationships between FTD dimensions and cognitive domains in a non-clinical sample with attenuated schizophrenia-like traits, or schizotypal traits, on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (N = 91). To our knowledge, no study has done this. FTD dimension scores were derived following principal component analysis of the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC dimensions: Disorganisation, Verbosity, Emptiness) and the Thought and Language Index (TLI dimensions: Negative, Idiosyncratic). The sample completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Findings indicate that higher-order reasoning, executive function (set shift and generative ability) and language/semantic functioning are the primary drivers of FTD in our non-clinical sample with elevated schizotypal traits, in line with schizophrenia research. FTD may have shared aetiology along the schizophrenia spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cliff Deyo
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia.
| | - Robyn Langdon
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders and Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia
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40
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Ucok A, Karakaş B, Şahin OŞ. Formal thought disorder in patients with first-episode schizophrenia: Results of a one-year follow-up study. Psychiatry Res 2021; 301:113972. [PMID: 33979765 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Formal thought disorder (FTD) refers to abnormal speech patterns that can be characterized by deficiencies in thought organization and direction. The present study aimed to assess the factor structure of FTD and to examine its relationship with cognition and clinical features at first admission in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. We also examined the course of FTD during the twelve months after first admission. We assessed FTD using the alogia items of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and FTD items of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms in 160 drug-naïve patients. A three-factor structure as a disorganization factor, poverty factor, and verbosity factor were found in principal component analysis. The poverty factor was correlated negatively with executive functions, attention, and global cognition. The poverty factor was also correlated with global functioning. Admission FTD factor scores were not related to global functioning and work/study status at one year. The positive-FTD score decreased from admission to the third month, but no change occurred from the third to the twelfth month. The negative-FTD score did not differ throughout the follow-up. Our findings showed that FTD had three factors. Each factor had a different relationship with cognition and functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alp Ucok
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
| | - Begüm Karakaş
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Olcay Şenay Şahin
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
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41
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Mi L, Wang L, Li X, She S, Li H, Huang H, Zhang J, Liu Y, Zhao J, Ning Y, Zheng Y. Reduction of phonetic mismatch negativity may depict illness course and predict functional outcomes in schizophrenia. J Psychiatr Res 2021; 137:290-297. [PMID: 33735719 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by a series of cognitive impairments, including automatic processing impairment of basic auditory information, indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN). Existing studies mainly focus on MMN induced by deviant of single acoustic features, and relatively few studies have focused on complex acoustic stimuli, especially speech-induced MMN. Many cognitive impairments in SZ are related to speech function. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the reduction of phonetic MMN in SZ as a potential biomarker and its relationship with illness course and functional outcomes. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were recorded from 32 SZ and 32 healthy controls (HC) in a double oddball paradigm, with /da/ as the standard stimulus and /ba/ and /du/ as the deviant stimuli. MMN was computed for vowel and consonant deviants separately. Clinical symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Symptom Rating Scale (PANSS). Illness duration and illness relapse were acquired by combining clinical interviews and electronic medical records. Functional outcomes were assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF). Compared with HC, SZ showed lower amplitudes of phonetic MMN, especially for vowel deviants. In addition, the MMN amplitude of the vowel deviant was significantly correlated with illness duration, illness relapse, and functional outcomes among patients with SZ. These findings indicate that the pre-attentive automatic phonetic processing of SZ was impaired for both consonants and vowels, while the vowel processing deficit may be the key speech processing deficit in SZ, which could depict the illness course and predict the functional outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Mi
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Le Wang
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Xuanzi Li
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Shenglin She
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Haijing Li
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Huiyan Huang
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Jinfang Zhang
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Yi Liu
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Jingping Zhao
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China; Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Chinese National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders, Chinese National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, China
| | - Yuping Ning
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China; The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
| | - Yingjun Zheng
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China.
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Chen J, Wensing T, Hoffstaedter F, Cieslik EC, Müller VI, Patil KR, Aleman A, Derntl B, Gruber O, Jardri R, Kogler L, Sommer IE, Eickhoff SB, Nickl-Jockschat T. Neurobiological substrates of the positive formal thought disorder in schizophrenia revealed by seed connectome-based predictive modeling. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2021; 30:102666. [PMID: 34215141 PMCID: PMC8105296 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2020] [Revised: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 04/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a core symptom of schizophrenia, but its neurobiological substrates remain elusive. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of three meta-analytically defined seeds were correlated to positive and negative symptom dimensions of FTD. RsFC patterns allowed individual prediction of positive FTD symptom severity. These findings generalized to an independent data set. Our study has identified robust neurobiological correlates of positive FTD in schizophrenia.
Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a core symptom cluster of schizophrenia, but its neurobiological substrates remain poorly understood. Here we collected resting-state fMRI data from 276 subjects at seven sites and employed machine-learning to investigate the neurobiological correlates of FTD along positive and negative symptom dimensions in schizophrenia. Three a priori, meta-analytically defined FTD-related brain regions were used as seeds to generate whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) maps, which were then compared between schizophrenia patients and controls. A repeated cross-validation procedure was realized within the patient group to identify clusters whose rsFC patterns to the seeds were repeatedly observed as significantly associated with specific FTD dimensions. These repeatedly identified clusters (i.e., robust clusters) were functionally characterized and the rsFC patterns were used for predictive modeling to investigate predictive capacities for individual FTD dimensional-scores. Compared with controls, differential rsFC was found in patients in fronto-temporo-thalamic regions. Our cross-validation procedure revealed significant clusters only when assessing the seed-to-whole-brain rsFC patterns associated with positive-FTD. RsFC patterns of three fronto-temporal clusters, associated with higher-order cognitive processes (e.g., executive functions), specifically predicted individual positive-FTD scores (p = 0.005), but not other positive symptoms, and the PANSS general psychopathology subscale (p > 0.05). The prediction of positive-FTD was moreover generalized to an independent dataset (p = 0.013). Our study has identified neurobiological correlates of positive FTD in schizophrenia in a network associated with higher-order cognitive functions, suggesting a dysexecutive contribution to FTD in schizophrenia. We regard our findings as robust, as they allow a prediction of individual-level symptom severity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji Chen
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Tobias Wensing
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH, Aachen, Germany; JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany
| | - Felix Hoffstaedter
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Edna C Cieslik
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Veronika I Müller
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Kaustubh R Patil
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - André Aleman
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Germany
| | - Oliver Gruber
- Section for Experimental Psychopathology and Neuroimaging, Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Germany
| | - Renaud Jardri
- Univ Lille, INSERM U1172, Lille Neuroscience & Cognition Centre, Plasticity &SubjectivitY Team & CHU Lille, Fontan Hospital, CURE Platform, Lille, France
| | - Lydia Kogler
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Germany
| | - Iris E Sommer
- Department of Biomedical Science of Cells and Systems, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Thomas Nickl-Jockschat
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States.
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Mackinley M, Chan J, Ke H, Dempster K, Palaniyappan L. Linguistic determinants of formal thought disorder in first episode psychosis. Early Interv Psychiatry 2021; 15:344-351. [PMID: 32129010 DOI: 10.1111/eip.12948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
AIM Thought disorder is a core feature of schizophrenia but assessment of disordered thinking is challenging, which may contribute to the paucity of mechanistic understanding of disorganization in early psychosis. We studied the use of linguistic connectives in relation to clinically quantified dimensions of thought disorder using automated speech analysis in untreated, first episode psychosis (FEPs) and healthy controls (HCs). METHODS 39 treatment-naïve, actively psychotic FEPs and 23 group matched HCs were recruited. Three one-minute speech samples were induced in response to photographs from the Thematic Apperception Test and speech was analysed using COH-METRIX software. Five connectives variables from the Coh-Metrix software were reduced using principle component analysis, resulting in two linguistic connectives factors. Thought disorder was assessed using the Thought Language Index (TLI) and the PANSS-8. RESULTS Connective factors predicted disorganization, but not impoverishment suggesting aberrant use of connectives is specific to positive thought disorder. An independent t test comparing low and high disorganization FEPs showed higher load of acausal temporal connectives in high disorganization FEPs compared to low disorganization FEPs (mean [SD] in high vs low disorganization FEPs = 0.64 (1.1) vs -0.37 (1.02); t = 2.91, P = .006). Acausal-temporal connectives were not correlated with severity of symptoms or cognition suggesting connective use is a specific index of disorganized thinking rather than overall illness status. CONCLUSIONS Clinical assessment of disorganization in psychosis is likely linked to the aberrant use of connectives resulting in an intuitive sense of incoherence. In early psychosis, thought disorder may be reliably quantifiable using automated syntax analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Mackinley
- Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Lawson Health Research Institute, Mental Health, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jenny Chan
- Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Hanna Ke
- Lawson Health Research Institute, Mental Health, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kara Dempster
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Lena Palaniyappan
- Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Lawson Health Research Institute, Mental Health, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
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44
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Sumner PJ, Rossell SL, Tan EJ. On the assessment of subjective formal thought disorder. Schizophr Res 2021; 228:58-59. [PMID: 33434735 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 12/12/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Philip J Sumner
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Susan L Rossell
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Eric J Tan
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
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Lower speech connectedness linked to incidence of psychosis in people at clinical high risk. Schizophr Res 2021; 228:493-501. [PMID: 32951966 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2019] [Revised: 05/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Formal thought disorder is a cardinal feature of psychotic disorders, and is also evident in subtle forms before psychosis onset in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P). Assessing speech output or assessing expressive language with speech as the medium at this stage may be particularly useful in predicting later transition to psychosis. METHOD Speech samples were acquired through administration of the Thought and Language Index (TLI) in 24 CHR-P participants, 16 people with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 13 healthy controls. The CHR-P individuals were then followed clinically for a mean of 7 years (s.d. = 1.5) to determine if they transitioned to psychosis. Non-semantic speech graph analysis was used to assess the connectedness of transcribed speech in all groups. RESULTS Speech was significantly more disconnected in the FEP group than in both healthy controls (p < .01) and the CHR-P group (p < .05). Results remained significant when IQ was included as a covariate. Significant correlations were found between speech connectedness measures and scores on the TLI, a manual assessment of formal thought disorder. In the CHR-P group, lower scores on two measures of speech connectedness were associated with subsequent transition to psychosis (8 transitions, 16 non-transitions; p < .05). CONCLUSION These findings support the utility and validity of speech graph analysis methods in characterizing speech connectedness in the early phases of psychosis. This approach has the potential to be developed into an automated, objective and time-efficient way of stratifying individuals at CHR-P according to level of psychosis risk.
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Dey A, Dempster K, MacKinley M, Jeon P, Das T, Khan A, Gati J, Palaniyappan L. Conceptual disorganization and redistribution of resting-state cortical hubs in untreated first-episode psychosis: A 7T study. NPJ SCHIZOPHRENIA 2021; 7:4. [PMID: 33500416 PMCID: PMC7838254 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-020-00130-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Network-level dysconnectivity has been studied in positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Conceptual disorganization (CD) is a symptom subtype that predicts impaired real-world functioning in psychosis. Systematic reviews have reported aberrant connectivity in formal thought disorder, a construct related to CD. However, no studies have investigated whole-brain functional correlates of CD in psychosis. We sought to investigate brain regions explaining the severity of CD in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEPs) compared with healthy controls (HCs). We computed whole-brain binarized degree centrality maps of 31 FEPs, 25 HCs, and characterized the patterns of network connectivity in the 2 groups. In FEPs, we related these findings to the severity of CD. We also studied the effect of positive and negative symptoms on altered network connectivity. Compared to HCs, reduced centrality of a right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) cluster was observed in the FEPs. In patients exhibiting high CD, increased centrality of a medial superior parietal (mSPL) cluster was observed, compared to patients exhibiting low CD. This cluster was strongly correlated with CD scores but not with other symptom scores. Our observations are congruent with previous findings of reduced but not increased centrality. We observed increased centrality of mSPL suggesting that cortical reorganization occurs to provide alternate routes for information transfer. These findings provide insight into the underlying neural processes mediating the presentation of symptoms in untreated FEP. Longitudinal tracking of the symptom course will be useful to assess the mechanisms underlying these compensatory changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avyarthana Dey
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
| | - Kara Dempster
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada ,grid.415847.b0000 0001 0556 2414Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.55602.340000 0004 1936 8200Present Address: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS Canada
| | - Michael MacKinley
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada ,grid.415847.b0000 0001 0556 2414Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON Canada
| | - Peter Jeon
- grid.415847.b0000 0001 0556 2414Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
| | - Tushar Das
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
| | - Ali Khan
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
| | - Joe Gati
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
| | - Lena Palaniyappan
- grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Robarts Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada ,grid.415847.b0000 0001 0556 2414Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada ,grid.39381.300000 0004 1936 8884The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada
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Nordgaard J, Gravesen-Jensen M, Buch-Pedersen M, Parnas J. Formal Thought Disorder and Self-Disorder: An Empirical Study. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:640921. [PMID: 33897496 PMCID: PMC8060494 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.640921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Formal thought disorder was constitutively linked to the original concept of schizophrenia and has since been one of central features supporting its diagnosis. Bleuler considered formal thought disorder as a fundamental symptom of schizophrenia among other fundamental symptoms, including ego disorders. The contemporary concept of self-disorder represents a more developed, nuanced, and systematic approach to disturbances of self-experience than the Bleulerian concept of ego disorders. As fundamental symptoms, on Bleuler's account, are persistently present in every case, an association between these symptoms could be expected. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between self-disorder and formal thought disorder. Methods: A sample of 94 diagnostically heterogeneous patients was examined for formal thought disorder using clinical rating and a proverb test. The proverb test was analyzed for two different aspects of formal thought disorder: literal responses and bizarre responses. The sample was comprehensively assessed for psychopathology, including self-disorder as measured with the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience scale. Results: The patients, who provided bizarre responses, had a higher level of self-disorder, more negative symptoms, lower level of social functioning, and lower level of intelligence. Bizarre answers aggregated in patients diagnosed within the schizophrenia spectrum compared with patients outside the schizophrenia spectrum. We found moderate correlations between the two measures of formal thought disorder (clinically rated and bizarre responses) and self-disorder (0.454 [p < 0.01] and 0.328 [p < 0.01]). Literal responses did not differ between diagnostic groups and also did not correlate with bizarre responses. Specificity of bizarre responses for a diagnosis within schizophrenia spectrum was 86.89%, whereas sensitivity was 40.85%. Conclusion: The close relation between formal thought disorder and self-disorder further adds to the notion of self-disorder as a unifying psychopathological core beneath the apparently heterogeneous symptoms of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Nordgaard
- Mental Health Centre Amager, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | | | - Josef Parnas
- Mental Health Centre Glostrup, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Corcoran CM, Mittal VA, Bearden CE, E Gur R, Hitczenko K, Bilgrami Z, Savic A, Cecchi GA, Wolff P. Language as a biomarker for psychosis: A natural language processing approach. Schizophr Res 2020; 226:158-166. [PMID: 32499162 PMCID: PMC7704556 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.04.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Revised: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Human ratings of conceptual disorganization, poverty of content, referential cohesion and illogical thinking have been shown to predict psychosis onset in prospective clinical high risk (CHR) cohort studies. The potential value of linguistic biomarkers has been significantly magnified, however, by recent advances in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). Such methodologies allow for the rapid and objective measurement of language features, many of which are not easily recognized by human raters. Here we review the key findings on language production disturbance in psychosis. We also describe recent advances in the computational methods used to analyze language data, including methods for the automatic measurement of discourse coherence, syntactic complexity, poverty of content, referential coherence, and metaphorical language. Linguistic biomarkers of psychosis risk are now undergoing cross-validation, with attention to harmonization of methods. Future directions in extended CHR networks include studies of sources of variance, and combination with other promising biomarkers of psychosis risk, such as cognitive and sensory processing impairments likely to be related to language. Implications for the broader study of social communication, including reciprocal prosody, face expression and gesture, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl M Corcoran
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Vijay A Mittal
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Carrie E Bearden
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, CA USA
| | - Raquel E Gur
- Brain Behavior Laboratory, Neuropsychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Kasia Hitczenko
- Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Zarina Bilgrami
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Aleksandar Savic
- Department of Diagnostics and Intensive Care, University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapce, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Guillermo A Cecchi
- Computational Biology Center-Neuroscience, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
| | - Phillip Wolff
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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49
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Brunette AM, Schacter DL. Cognitive mechanisms of episodic simulation in psychiatric populations. Behav Res Ther 2020; 136:103778. [PMID: 33338778 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2020.103778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2020] [Revised: 11/01/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Episodic simulation is the construction of a mental representation of a specific autobiographical future event. Episodic simulation has increasingly been studied in psychiatric populations. Here we 1) review evidence indicating that episodic simulation is compromised in patients with depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and PTSD; and 2) consider several potential cognitive mechanisms of episodic simulation in psychiatric populations: episodic retrieval, scene construction, mental imagery, components of the CaRFAX model (i.e., capture and rumination, functional avoidance, and executive functioning), and narrative style. We evaluate evidence regarding these mechanisms across psychiatric populations, and identify areas of future research. Understanding the factors that contribute to episodic simulation impairment in psychiatric populations may lead to targeted and effective treatment approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M Brunette
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Psychology Service, 150 South Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02130, United States.
| | - Daniel L Schacter
- Harvard University, Department of Psychology, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States.
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50
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Hitczenko K, Mittal VA, Goldrick M. Understanding Language Abnormalities and Associated Clinical Markers in Psychosis: The Promise of Computational Methods. Schizophr Bull 2020; 47:344-362. [PMID: 33205155 PMCID: PMC8480175 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbaa141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The language and speech of individuals with psychosis reflect their impairments in cognition and motor processes. These language disturbances can be used to identify individuals with and at high risk for psychosis, as well as help track and predict symptom progression, allowing for early intervention and improved outcomes. However, current methods of language assessment-manual annotations and/or clinical rating scales-are time intensive, expensive, subject to bias, and difficult to administer on a wide scale, limiting this area from reaching its full potential. Computational methods that can automatically perform linguistic analysis have started to be applied to this problem and could drastically improve our ability to use linguistic information clinically. In this article, we first review how these automated, computational methods work and how they have been applied to the field of psychosis. We show that across domains, these methods have captured differences between individuals with psychosis and healthy controls and can classify individuals with high accuracies, demonstrating the promise of these methods. We then consider the obstacles that need to be overcome before these methods can play a significant role in the clinical process and provide suggestions for how the field should address them. In particular, while much of the work thus far has focused on demonstrating the successes of these methods, we argue that a better understanding of when and why these models fail will be crucial toward ensuring these methods reach their potential in the field of psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kasia Hitczenko
- Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, Evanston,
IL,To whom correspondence should be addressed; Northwestern University, 2016
Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208; tel: 847-491-5831, fax: 847-491-3770, e-mail:
| | - Vijay A Mittal
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL,Department of Psychiatry, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL,Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston,
IL,Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL,Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern
University, Evanston and Chicago, IL
| | - Matthew Goldrick
- Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, Evanston,
IL,Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern
University, Evanston and Chicago, IL
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