Schizophr Bull
January 26, 2012
Oliver D. Howes, Paul Shotbolt, Michael Bloomfield et al.
94 citations
Auditory hallucinations in healthy individuals are associated with altered dopamine function in the brain. Using [18F]-DOPA PET imaging, the study found that healthy people who experience auditory hallucinations show differences in dopaminergic activity compared to those who do not, suggesting that dopamine dysfunction may be a trait marker along the psychosis spectrum. The findings indicate that even in the absence of a clinical diagnosis, hallucination proneness is linked to measurable neurochemical variations.
Schizophr Bull
February 1, 2019
Elizabeth Pienkos, Anne Giersch, Marie Hansen et al.
93 citations
Hallucinations are often studied as isolated symptoms, but this review argues that they emerge from a broader set of changes in cognition, perception, selfhood, time, interpersonal experience, and embodiment. The authors suggest that grouping different hallucinatory experiences under a single definition may obscure meaningful differences in their causes and subjective qualities. They review phenomenological and neurocognitive theories and the role of trauma, proposing that hallucinations are an equifinal outcome of multiple genetic, neurocognitive, subjective, and social processes. Future research should incorporate a wider range of experiential alterations, and clinical practice should use phenomenologically responsive techniques and develop targeted therapies.
Schizophr Bull
July 1, 2025
A brief, economical self-report questionnaire called the SQuEASE-11 may help identify psychosis risk by measuring anomalous self-experiences. The text argues for empirical investigation of this first-step screening tool as a pragmatic alternative to lengthy interviews, potentially making early detection more accessible in clinical settings.
Schizophr Bull
February 1, 2023
Tanya M Luhrmann, Ben Alderson-Day, Ann Chen et al.
In communities where hearing voices is common and expected, people are taught cultural models to identify and explain voice-like events. These communities share common features: they teach discernment to accurately identify the legitimate voice of a spirit or being, and they use two methods to enable experiencing spirits—trained attention to inner experience and repeated speech to the invisible other. The ability to hear spirits becomes more skilled with practice, and what is heard becomes clearer over time. Despite shared cultural ideas, individual variation in experience exists, some possibly reflecting psychotic process. Voice-like events may be shaped by cognitive expectation, trained practice, and an experiential pathway.
Schizophr Bull
December 4, 2009
A. L. Mishara
Klaus Conrad's phenomenological analysis of early psychosis centers on patients' experiences during the prodromal and acute phases of schizophrenia. His complex concepts are difficult to translate into English, limiting their reach. This article clarifies Conrad's ideas, particularly how mood and delusions interact at the onset of psychosis and how those processes relate to underlying brain mechanisms.