The relation between childhood maltreatment and psychosis in patients with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric controls

Several lines of evidence suggest that childhood maltreatment is associated with an increased risk for both psychotic disorders and subclinical psychotic-like experiences in the general population. Few studies, however, have sought to examine whether the strength of this relationship is comparable across patient and non-patient groups. The present study sought to compare the strength of the association between childhood maltreatment and self-reported psychotic symptoms in 447 healthy adult volunteers and 184 stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Strong positive correlations between childhood maltreatment and self-reported symptoms were observed in both groups. Although patients scored significantly higher than controls on both history of childhood maltreatment and self-reported symptoms, the strength of the relationship did not differ between groups. These data provide strong support for etiological continuity between subclinical psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Evidence from structural and diffusion tensor imaging for frontotemporal deficits in psychometric schizotypy

BACKGROUND: Previous studies of nonclinical samples exhibiting schizotypal traits have provided support for the existence of a continuous distribution of psychotic symptoms in the general population. Few studies, however, have examined the neural correlates of psychometric schizotypy using structural and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). METHODS: Healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 68 were recruited from the community and assessed using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and received structural and DTI exams. Participants with high (N = 67) and low (N = 71) psychometric schizotypy were compared on gray and white matter volume, and cortical thickness in frontal and temporal lobe regions and on fractional anisotropy (FA) within 5 association tracts traversing the frontal and temporal lobes. RESULTS: Higher levels of schizotypy were associated with lower overall volumes of gray matter in both the frontal and temporal lobes and lower gray matter thickness in the temporal lobe. Regionally specific effects were evident in both white matter and gray matter volume of the rostral middle frontal cortex and gray matter volume in the pars orbitalis. Moreover, relative to individuals who scored low, those who scored high in schizotypy had lower FA in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus as well as greater asymmetry (right \u3e left) in the uncinate fasciculus. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are broadly consistent with recent data on the neurobiological correlates of psychometric schizotypy as well as findings in schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia and suggest that frontotemporal lobe dysfunction may represent a core component of the psychosis phenotype

MATRICS cognitive consensus battery (MCCB) performance in children, adolescents, and young adults

Background: Neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia suggest that cognitive deficits may be observed during childhood and adolescence, long before the onset of psychotic symptoms. Elucidating the trajectory of normal cognitive development during childhood and adolescence may therefore provide a basis for identifying specific abnormalities related to the development of schizophrenia. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), which was designed for use in clinical trials targeting cognitive deficits most common in schizophrenia, may provide a mechanism to understand this trajectory. To date, however, there is no performance data for the MCCB in healthy children and adolescents. The present study sought to establish performance data for the MCCB in healthy children, adolescents, and young adults. Methods: The MCCB was administered to a community sample of 190 healthy subjects between the ages of 8 and 23 years. All MCCB domain scores were converted to T-scores using sample means and standard deviations and were compared for significant performance differences between sex and age strata. Results: Analyses revealed age effects following quadratic trends in all MCCB domains, which is consistent with research showing a leveling off of childhood cognitive improvement upon approaching late adolescence. Sex effects after controlling for age only presented for one MCCB domain, with males exhibiting well-known spatial reasoning advantages. Conclusions: Utilizing this performance data may aid future research seeking to elucidate specific deficits that may be predictive of later development of SZ. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The relationship between temperament and character and subclinical psychotic-like experiences in healthy adults

Background: Considerable data support phenomenological and temporal continuity between psychotic disorders and subclinical psychotic-like experiences (PLE\u27s). Although numerous studies have found similar personality correlates for schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder patients, their unaffected first-degree relatives, and healthy adults characterized for schizotypal traits, no study has yet investigated personality correlates of PLE\u27s measured by the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE). Our study sought to examine personality correlates of PLE\u27s using the CAPE in healthy adults. Method: The CAPE and temperament and character inventory (TCI) were administered to 415 healthy adults. Regressions examined links between TCI traits and overall PLE levels as well as positive and negative PLE\u27s separately. Results: Consistent with past studies, lower self-directedness (SD) and reward dependence (RD) and higher self-transcendence (ST) and harm avoidance (HA) significantly predicted overall PLE levels. Higher ST and persistence (P) and lower SD significantly predicted higher levels of positive PLE\u27s while lower SD and RD and higher HA, ST, and cooperativeness (C) predicted higher levels of negative PLE\u27s. Conclusions: Associations between TCI and PLE\u27s using the CAPE are strikingly similar to past work in non-clinical and patient samples and provide additional support for phenomenological continuity between psychotic disorders and sub-syndromal psychotic symptoms. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Children with learning problems: reading in a developmental-interaction approach

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The relationship between temperament and character and psychotic-like experiences in healthy children and adolescents

BACKGROUND: Prior work by our group identified personality profiles associated with psychotic-like experiences (PLE\u27s) in healthy adults that were strikingly similar to those found in schizophrenia patients, with the exception of two key differences. Specifically, higher levels of PLE\u27s were linked to higher persistence and cooperativeness, suggesting that these characteristics might represent personality-based resilience factors. Notably, age and personality were significantly correlated in these data, raising questions about whether healthy children and adolescents would show similar results. To date, no study has examined personality profiles associated with both positive and negative PLE\u27s in healthy children and adolescents using Cloninger\u27s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Thus, this study examined the relationship between TCI dimensions and PLE\u27s in healthy children and adolescents. METHOD: The TCI and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) were administered to 123 healthy children and adolescents aged 8-18. Multiple regression models were used to examine personality dimensions associated with overall severity of PLE\u27s as well as severity of positive and negative PLE\u27s separately. RESULTS: Positive, negative, and overall PLE severity were all associated with a personality pattern of higher harm avoidance and lower self-directedness. Negative PLE severity was also associated with lower persistence. CONCLUSIONS: Personality correlates of PLE\u27s in healthy children and adolescents were largely consistent with our past work on PLE\u27s in healthy adults. However, our previously identified resilience factors were notably absent in this sample. These findings may suggest that these personality characteristics have not yet crystallized or emerged to aid in coping with PLE\u27s