Bidirectional pathways between psychosocial risk factors and paranoid ideation in a general nonclinical population

Abstract We investigated (a) whether psychosocial factors (experienced stress, anticipatory worry, social detachment, sleeping disturbances, alcohol use) predict the course of paranoid ideation between the ages of 24 to 50 years and (b) whether the predictive relationships are more likely to proceed from the psychosocial factors to paranoid ideation, or vice versa. The participants (N = 1534–1553) came from the population-based Young Finns study. Paranoid ideation and psychosocial factors were assessed by reliable self-report questionnaires in 2001, 2007, and 2011/2012. The data were analyzed using growth curve and structural equation models. High experienced stress, anticipatory worry, social detachment, frequent sleeping disturbances, and frequent alcohol use predicted more paranoid ideation. More risk factors predicted increasing paranoid ideation. There were bidirectional predictive relationships of paranoid ideation with experienced stress, anticipatory worry, social detachment, and sleeping disturbances. The link between alcohol use and paranoid ideation was only correlative. In conclusion, paranoid ideation increases by reciprocal interactions with stress, worry, social detachment, and sleeping disturbances. The findings support the threat–anticipation model of paranoid ideation, providing important implications for treatment of paranoia

Structural and functional alterations in the brain gray matter among first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients:a multimodal meta-analysis of fMRI and VBM studies

Abstract Objective: We conducted a multimodal coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA) to investigate structural and functional brain alterations in first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients (FRs). Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search from electronic databases to find studies that examined differences between FRs and healthy controls using whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or voxel-based morphometry (VBM). A CBMA of 30 fMRI (754 FRs; 959 controls) and 11 VBM (885 FRs; 775 controls) datasets were conducted using the anisotropic effect-size version of signed differential mapping. Further, we conducted separate meta-analyses about functional alterations in different cognitive tasks: social cognition, executive functioning, working memory, and inhibitory control. Results: FRs showed higher fMRI activation in the right frontal gyrus during cognitive tasks than healthy controls. In VBM studies, there were no differences in gray matter density between FRs and healthy controls. Furthermore, multi-modal meta-analysis obtained no differences between FRs and healthy controls. By utilizing the BrainMap database, we showed that the brain region which showed functional alterations in FRs (i) overlapped only slightly with the brain regions that were affected in the meta-analysis of schizophrenia patients and (ii) correlated positively with the brain regions that exhibited increased activity during cognitive tasks in healthy individuals. Conclusions: Based on this meta-analysis, FRs may exhibit only minor functional alterations in the brain during cognitive tasks, and the alterations are much more restricted and only slightly overlapping with the regions that are affected in schizophrenia patients. The familial risk did not relate to structural alterations in the gray matter