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Introduction: The notion of a full psychosis continuum in which psychosis is seen on a continuum with normal experience rests heavily on studies showing that psychotic symptoms are common in the general population. However, the methods of assessment in the studies have been criticized. Objectives: (1) to investigate how many from the general population who answered positively on a psychotic-like symptoms questionnaire and (2) to clinically assess a subset of those with psychotic-like experiences (PLE). Methods: A self-rating questionnaire concerning PLEs was given to individuals from the general population. A subsample of those, who scored positively for PLEs, was clinically assessed for psychosis. Results: Totally, 5.7% of the participants rated positive for PLEs according to the self-rating questionnaire. Forty of these were clinically assessed and 7 (17.5%) of them were found to have had a psychotic experience, 4 of them were already in psychiatric treatment. Conclusion: The self-reported psychotic-like phenomena were more common in the general population than psychotic disorders. However, when assessed clinically, the experienced phenomena did correspond to psychotic phenomena except in a few patients, who were found to suffer from a psychotic disorder. Overall, we did not find support for the full psychosis continuum model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper serves as an introduction to the Examination of Anomalous Fantasy and Imagination (EAFI) – a novel instrument for a semistructured, phenomenological exploration of psychopathology of imagination. We present an account of the phenomenology of imagination and proceed to a presentation of the disorders of imagination that are addressed in the EAFI. Furthermore, the interrater reliability of the EAFI was examined in a diagnostically heterogeneous sample of 20 in-patients. The interrater agreement ranged from 0.6 to 1.0, with an average κ of 0.84. The internal consistency of the EAFI as measured by Cronbach’s α was above 0.88. We suggest that the anomalies of imagination explored by the EAFI reflect an alteration of the structure of consciousness and belong to a fundamental, generative layer of psychopathology. These disorders may have relevance for differential diagnostic purposes, especially in first-contact, young patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Although the very idea that the generative disorder in schizophrenia is a disturbance of the self is as old as the schizophrenia concept itself, empirical studies have only recently emerged, documenting that anomalous self-experiences (i.e. self-disorders, SDs) aggregate in schizophrenia spectrum disorders but not in other mental disorders. The aim of this study is to explore potential associations between SDs, neurocognitive performance, rationality and IQ in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: The sample comprises 31 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-IV). All patients underwent comprehensive evaluation. SDs were assessed with the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience scale. Neurocognitive performance was measured with 4 PC-implemented subtests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Rationality was measured using syllogism tests. The IQ was indexed by a summary score of 4 IST-2000-R computerized subtests. Results: No correlation was found between SDs and neurocognitive performance or between SDs and IQ. SDs were found to correlate with rationality. Neurocognitive performance correlated with rationality, and both correlated with IQ, respectively. Conclusions: The lack of correlation between SDs and neurocognitive performance is consistent with the results from the only previous study exploring this issue, suggesting that SDs depict something essential to schizophrenia, whereas neurocognitive impairment does not. The correlation between SDs and rationality indicates that the syllogism tests reflect something central for schizophrenia, but the result needs further corroboration from larger, empirical studies. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]