Psychopathology
January 1, 2015
Andreas Rosén Rasmussen, Josef Parnas
22 citations
In schizophrenia spectrum disorders, mental imagery can become unusually vivid and take on quasi-perceptual qualities—acquiring spatialization, constancy, and autonomy—while the normal sense of unreality is weakened. This perceptualized imagery often triggers strong emotional responses. The authors argue that these anomalies stem from a core disturbance in the minimal self (unstable first-person perspective) and propose that such pathology of imagination is key for early and differential diagnosis, distinguishing schizophrenia from other disorders where similar phenomena like obsessions occur.
Frontiers in psychiatry
January 1, 2021
Andreas Rosén Rasmussen, Andrea Raballo, Antonio Preti et al.
21 citations
Anomalies of imagination—disturbances in the basic structure of fantasies and imagery—are highly characteristic of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and closely related to self-disorders. In a study of 81 participants, including patients with schizophrenia or other non-affective psychosis, schizotypal personality disorder, other mental illness, and healthy controls, these anomalies aggregated significantly in the schizophrenia-spectrum group compared to other mental illness and healthy controls, with no difference between schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder. Network analysis showed anomalies of imagination were closely interconnected with self-disorders, while correlations with perceptual disturbances and positive, negative, and general symptoms were moderate but separated in the network.
Schizophrenia research
February 1, 2024
Andreas Rosén Rasmussen
8 citations
Disturbances of imagination were once discussed in schizophrenia research but have largely disappeared from mainstream psychopathology. Recent work suggests these phenomena may aid differential diagnosis and early psychosis detection. This paper reviews 20th-century psychopathological literature and recent neurocognitive studies on imagination disturbances and their role in symptom formation. It discusses empirical investigations of subjective anomalies of imagination in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, proposing a clinical-phenomenological account linking these anomalies to basic self-disturbance. Patients' descriptions indicate that increased spatial articulation and instability of first-personal imaginative experience can contribute to delusions and hallucinations. A potential link between these subjective anomalies and source monitoring deficits is also explored.
Early Intervention in Psychiatry
July 2, 2023
Marija Krcmar, Cassandra Wannan, Suzie Lavoie et al.
6 citations
Basic self-disturbance is a potential core vulnerability marker for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The Self, Neuroscience and Psychosis (SNAP) study tests a neurophenomenological model of psychosis by examining clinical, neurocognitive, and neurophysiological variables in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis. It includes 400 UHR individuals, 100 clinical controls without attenuated psychotic symptoms, and 50 healthy controls. Participants complete baseline assessments and electroencephalography; UHR participants are followed for 24 months with clinical assessments every 6 months. The protocol aims to develop a prediction model for persistence or worsening of UHR symptoms at 12 months and to determine how specific these disturbances are to attenuated psychotic symptoms.
European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience
April 1, 2026
Lars Siersbæk Nilsson, Julie Nordgaard, Mads Gram Henriksen et al.
5 citations
Poor insight in schizophrenia is linked to fundamental alterations in the structure of subjective experience, known as self-disorders, rather than to other symptoms or general intelligence. In a study of 67 patients with schizophrenia or non-affective psychosis in a non-acute phase, those with impaired insight had significantly higher levels of self-disorders than those with good insight, while positive, negative, and depressive symptoms did not differ between groups. Regression analyses showed that only self-disorders were significantly associated with impaired insight. These findings support the idea that self-disorders contribute to poor insight, which may inform early intervention and treatment.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2026
Bettina Magnolia Löfs, Andreas Rosén Rasmussen
1 citation
Most people with schizophrenia who hear or see things that others do not describe these experiences as being like ordinary perception, and they often occur alongside a disturbed sense of self. In interviews with twenty patients, auditory and visual hallucinations were linked to alterations in the structure of sensory experience, such as changes in spatiality, and were felt to be private rather than publicly accessible. Compared to a control group, those with hallucinations had higher levels of basic self-disorders, earlier onset of mental health problems, and lower IQ. The findings suggest that hallucinations in schizophrenia may stem from a fundamental disturbance in the sense of self, and that visual hallucinations may also be related to this disturbance.
L'Encephale
August 1, 2025
Andreas Rosén Rasmussen, Helene Stephensen, Julie Nordgaard et al.
A French translation of the Examination of Anomalous Fantasy and Imagination (EAFI) is presented, along with an introduction to the phenomenology of imagination and its experiential alterations. The EAFI's interrater reliability was tested in a diagnostically heterogeneous sample of 20 inpatients, yielding agreement from 0.6 to 1.0 with an average κ of 0.84, and internal consistency (Cronbach's α) above 0.88. The anomalies of imagination explored by the EAFI are suggested to reflect an alteration of the structure of consciousness and belong to a fundamental, generative layer of psychopathology, with potential relevance for differential diagnosis, especially in first-contact patients.
Schizophrenia research
May 1, 2022
Andreas Rosén Rasmussen, Josef Parnas
Obsessive-compulsive symptoms are common in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and can complicate diagnosis, especially in first-contact patients. Classic psychopathology defines true obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as intrusions with intact resistance and insight, while in schizophrenia, pseudo-obsessive-compulsive phenomena lack resistance and align with thought disorder or catatonia. Current diagnostic systems use broader, vaguer definitions, causing overlap with delusions and other anomalies. The authors examine links between obsessive-compulsive phenomena and disturbances of basic experience in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, suggesting these experiential alterations aid differential diagnosis and early detection.