The role of psychotic‐like experiences in the association between aberrant salience and anxiety: A psychopathological proposal based on a case–control study
Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola, Andrea Patti, Davide Benedetti, Bernardo Bozza, Andrea Ballerini, Valdo Ricca
Early Intervention in Psychiatry December 8, 2023 DOI: 10.1111/eip.13490 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAberrant salience (AS) and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are linked, and anxiety is common in psychosis-prone individuals and patients. In a study of 163 healthy controls and 44 psychotic patients, AS correlated with more frequent positive PLEs and higher anxiety in both groups. However, the frequency of positive PLEs mediated the relationship between AS and anxiety only among controls, not patients. The authors suggest that in patients, a progressive loss of novelty and insight may impair emotional reactivity to PLEs and the ability to recognize bodily phenomena as anxiety, explaining the difference.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study with mediation analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 207 |
| Population | Healthy controls and psychotic patients |
| Topics | Anxiety |
| Keywords | Psychopathology Clinical psychology Psychosis Salience neuroscience |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key finding | Positive psychotic-like experiences mediated the association between aberrant salience and anxiety only in healthy controls, not in psychotic patients. |
Abstract
AIM: Aberrant salience (AS) and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) have been proven to be linked. Moreover, anxiety is a key symptom in psychosis-prone subjects and most psychotic patients. We propose a model that attempts to interpret the role of PLEs in the association between AS and anxiety among healthy controls and psychotic patients. METHODS: Demographic and psychometric data (Aberrant Salience Inventory, Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences, Symptom Check List-90-revised) from 163 controls and 44 psychotic patients was collected. Descriptive statistics, correlations, a linear regression model and a mediation analysis with covariates were subsequently performed. RESULTS: AS correlated with more frequent positive PLEs and higher anxiety levels in both patients and controls. However, positive PLEs' frequency mediated the relationship between AS and anxiety only among controls. CONCLUSIONS: PLEs linked to AS appear to induce anxiety among the control group but not among psychotic patients. The progressive loss of both novelty and insight, which may, respectively, impair the somatic emotional reactivity to PLEs and the ability to recognize some bodily phenomena as the embodied correlates of anxiety, is seen as the most probable theoretical explanation.