Auditory Perceptual Abnormalities As High Risk Indictor of Progression to Psychosis

Some people who eventually develop schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders have early “prodromal” symptoms such as subtle perceptual abnormalities and unusual thoughts that precede the onset of these disorders by months or even years. These subtle symptoms are typically not fully formed or met with full conviction, which distinguishes them from full-blown symptoms of psychosis.

The “prodromal” phase has been the subject of intense study as researchers believe it can provide an invaluable window into the neurobiological processes that cause psychotic disorders as well as an opportunity to develop early preventive interventions. Persons who experience “prodromal” symptoms (known as “clinical high-risk” individuals) tend to report a variety of relatively subtle perceptual abnormalities (e.g., heightened sensitivity to sounds, distortions in how objects are perceived, momentarily hearing voices of speakers who are not present), unusual thoughts, and disorganized speech, some of which have been shown to be particularly informative in distinguishing who among these persons will eventually develop a full-blown psychotic disorder, a prediction that is clinically important as it may indicate the need for close monitoring of individuals who are at the greatest risk. Even though subtle perceptual abnormalities are common in this population, the available research indicates that they are as a whole uninformative for clinical prediction purposes. However, previous research in this area had never examined in detail whether assessing perceptual abnormalities in different sensory domains (such as visual versus auditory abnormalities) separately could be more informative than assessing them as a whole.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: Our study at Columbia University Medical Center assessed these abnormalities separately in a group of “clinical high-risk” individuals who were followed up for up to two years.

To our surprise, only when we assessed visual and auditory abnormalities separately did we realize that they provided opposite clinical information, with the former indicating lower risk and the latter indicating higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder. Even more surprising was the finding that in our study visual abnormalities were more clinically informative than any other clinical assessments, including other well-established clinical predictors of the development of psychotic disorders.

FULL RESEARCH PAPER HERE:

Relationship_Visual_Audio_Abnormalities_Psychosis_lehembreshiah2016.pdf (142.4 KB)

Full Interview here:

Pubmed Reference Here:

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I heard short whistling sounds before I became psychotic. It was only from Mexicans when I lived in Los Angeles. I thought it was directed at me, like look at this guy or something. I told the shrink but nobody told me that I was at high risk for developing a psychotic disorder. They just threw a prescription for lithium at me and I was on my way. Had I known I was developing psychosis I would have removed myself from the toxic environment I was in and gone home to relax with my family, ultimately preventing this god damned illness. This and the cannabis as a risk factor were not known in 2001 when I became psychotic

I used to be very sensitive to sounds. My parents had to wait until I was out of the house before vacuuming or mowing the lawn. A few years ago, it just a stopped. My roommate turned on the vacuum with no notice, and it just didn’t bother me. I wonder if it was because I was medicated.

Ok what about the abuse factor a child who is physically abused HAS TOO listen out for potential threats in his or her environment.