Version 1
: Received: 6 August 2024 / Approved: 7 August 2024 / Online: 7 August 2024 (10:54:58 CEST)
How to cite:
Margariti, M.; Vlachos, I.; Mpourazana, D.; Aristotelidis, P.; Selakoviz, M.; Ifanti, M.; Papageorgiou, C. Psychotic Arousal and the Psychopathology of Acute Schizophrenia. An Exploratory Study of the Experiential Emotional State in Acute Psychosis. Preprints2024, 2024080499. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0499.v1
Margariti, M.; Vlachos, I.; Mpourazana, D.; Aristotelidis, P.; Selakoviz, M.; Ifanti, M.; Papageorgiou, C. Psychotic Arousal and the Psychopathology of Acute Schizophrenia. An Exploratory Study of the Experiential Emotional State in Acute Psychosis. Preprints 2024, 2024080499. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0499.v1
Margariti, M.; Vlachos, I.; Mpourazana, D.; Aristotelidis, P.; Selakoviz, M.; Ifanti, M.; Papageorgiou, C. Psychotic Arousal and the Psychopathology of Acute Schizophrenia. An Exploratory Study of the Experiential Emotional State in Acute Psychosis. Preprints2024, 2024080499. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0499.v1
APA Style
Margariti, M., Vlachos, I., Mpourazana, D., Aristotelidis, P., Selakoviz, M., Ifanti, M., & Papageorgiou, C. (2024). Psychotic Arousal and the Psychopathology of Acute Schizophrenia. An Exploratory Study of the Experiential Emotional State in Acute Psychosis. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0499.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Margariti, M., Maria Ifanti and Charalambos Papageorgiou. 2024 "Psychotic Arousal and the Psychopathology of Acute Schizophrenia. An Exploratory Study of the Experiential Emotional State in Acute Psychosis" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0499.v1
Abstract
Background: Increasing research data suggests that dysfunction of emotional brain systems may be an important contributor for the psychophysiology of schizophrenia. However, contemporary psychopathology consistently underestimates the role of emotions in the phenomenology of the disease. Psychotic arousal (PA) is a conceptually-defined psychopathological construct aimed to portray the experiential emotional state of acute psychosis. The concept provides an explanatory model for the emergence of psychosis, and the formation and maintenance of delusions based on neurobiological models on the formation of core consciousness and subjectivity. This is the first exploratory study of the major assumptions, endorsed in the project summarised as follows: 1) Psychotic arousal is a discrete state, eligible to investigation; 2) Abnormal experiential feelings are an integral part of this state; 3) The state is responsive to antipsychotic intervention during the first weeks of treatment.Methods: We developed accordingly the Psychotic Arousal Scale (PAS), explored its first psychometric properties and tested its relation to other psychopathological measures. 55 acute schizophrenia patients were evaluated with the PAS, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety, and the Calgary Depression. Cronbach α coefficients, t- test analysis, correlations and mixed linear regression models were applied for testing internal reliability of the scale, associations between parameters and sensitivity to change in three time periods during therapeutic intervention.Results: Results of the study support that (PA) is eligible for investigation as a discrete psychopathological state, abnormal experiential feelings are an integral part of this state, it presents high affinity with other affective measures, its degree of severity relates to the delusions’ conviction, and is amenable to antipsychotics early in treatment during the acute psychotic episode.Conclusions: Findings of this exploratory study are connotative of the presence of an emotional arousal impregnated by abnormal experiential feelings during acute psychosis, largely overlooked by contemporary psychopathology.
Medicine and Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Mental Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
