Exploring the links between alexithymia, empathy and schizotypy in college students using network analysis

Introduction: Impaired empathy is one of the major dysfunctions commonly found in patients with schizophrenia, with alexithymia being one possible underlying factor. Schizotypy represents a set of psychotic-like manifestations, investigation of which may contribute to our understanding of psychosis while minimising the confounding effects of illness chronicity and medication exposure. Few studies have specifically examined the associations among alexithymia, empathy and schizotypy. Methods: We investigated the relationships among alexithymia, empathy and schizotypy in college students using network analysis. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), and Chapman Psychosis-Proneness scales were captured, and network based on the subscales were estimated in 552 participants. Strength, closeness and betweenness of nodes were calculated to measure the centrality. Results: Network analyses revealed a pattern connecting alexithymia with empathy and schizotypy. Negative connections between empathy and physical/social anhedonia and positive edges linking alexithymia with empathy and social anhedonia were observed. Conclusions: Network constructed in the study demonstrated alexithymia’s role in empathic deficits. Our findings highlighted the connections between components of empathy, alexithymia and schizotypy.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Network analysis of 18 attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms suggests the importance of “Distracted” and “Fidget” as central symptoms: Invariance across age, gender, and subtype presentations.docx

The network theory of mental disorders conceptualizes psychiatric symptoms as networks of symptoms that causally interact with each other. Our present study aimed to explore the symptomatic structure in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using network analyses. Symptom network based on 18 items of ADHD Rating Scale-IV was evaluated in 4,033 children and adolescents with ADHD. The importance of nodes was evaluated quantitatively by examining centrality indices, including Strength, Betweenness and Closeness, as well as Predictability and Expected Influence (EI). In addition, we compared the network structure across different subgroups, as characterized by ADHD subtypes, gender and age groups to evaluate its invariance. A three-factor-community structure was identified including inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive clusters. For the centrality indices, the nodes of “Distracted” and “Fidget” showed high closeness and betweenness, and represented a bridge linking the inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive domains. “Details” and “Fidget” were the most common endorsed symptoms in inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive domains respectively. On the contrary, the “Listen” item formed a peripheral node showing weak links with all other items within the inattentive cluster, and the “Loss” item as the least central node by all measures of centrality and with low predictability value. The network structure was relatively invariant across gender, age and ADHD subtypes/presentations. The 18 items of ADHD core symptoms appear not equivalent and interchangeable. “Distracted” and “Fidget” should be considered as central, or core, symptoms for further evaluation and intervention. The network-informed differentiation of these symptoms has the potentials to refine the phenotype and reduce heterogeneity.</p

Negative belief-updating bias for positive daily life events in individuals with schizophrenia and social anhedonia

Low-pleasure beliefs are found in both patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and individuals with high social anhedonia (SocAnh), and are associated with anhedonia. However, little is known about the development and maintenance of these low-pleasure beliefs in the clinical and subclinical populations. We investigated whether patients with SZ and individuals with high SocAnh have deficits in updating their beliefs, which may contribute to the understanding of the formation and maintenance of low-pleasure beliefs. The Modified Belief Updating Task was administered to assess belief-updating patterns in a clinical sample (36 SZ patients and 30 matched controls) and a subclinical sample (27 individuals with high SocAnh and 30 matched controls). We found that compared with controls, SZ patients updated their beliefs to a greater extent and more frequently when receiving bad news for positive life events, but not for negative life events. Moreover, individuals with high SocAnh also exhibited similar patterns in updating their beliefs for positive life events after controlling depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that negative belief-updating patterns for positive events may play an important role in the formation and maintenance of low-pleasure beliefs in patients with SZ and individuals with high SocAnh.</p

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-ehp-10.1177_0163278720979651 - Validation of the Chinese Version of the Body Image Concern Inventory

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-ehp-10.1177_0163278720979651 for Validation of the Chinese Version of the Body Image Concern Inventory by Kui Wang, Xin-yang Yu, Chao-ran Yu, Ya-fei Liu, Min-yi Chu, Rui-ting Zhang, Rui Liang, Jue Chen, Heather L. Littleton, David H. K. Shum and Raymond C. K. Chan in Evaluation & the Health Professions</p

The remediation effects of working memory training in schizophrenia patients with prominent negative symptoms

Introduction: Negative symptoms, particularly amotivation and anhedonia, are important predictors of poor functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia. There has been interest in the efficacy and mechanism of non-pharmacological interventions to alleviate these symptoms. The present study aimed to examine the remediation effect of working memory (WM) training in patients with schizophrenia with prominent negative symptoms. Methods: Thirty-one schizophrenia patients with prominent negative symptoms were recruited and assigned to either a WM training group or a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group. The WM training group underwent 20 sessions of training using the dual n-back task over one month. A functional neuroimaging paradigm of the Affective Incentive Delay (AID) task was administered before and after the training intervention to evaluate the remediation effect of the intervention. Results: Our results showed that the WM training group demonstrated significant improvement in the WM training task and inattention symptoms. Compared with the TAU group, increased brain activations were observed at the right insula and the right frontal sub-gyral after WM training in the training group. Conclusions: These findings support the efficacy of WM training in ameliorating hedonic dysfunction in schizophrenia patients with prominent negative symptoms.</p