The Predictive Role of Self-representation in Transition of Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis
Condition: Clinical High Risk for Psychosis
MeSH terms: Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders
Study type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Summary: 
      Schizophrenia is one of the most consumptive diseases, which brings great loss to patients
      and their families, and even to the society. Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR) is a
      concept put forward on the basis of the prodromal stage of schizophrenia. Over the past 20
      years, the identification and intervention of CHR has become the focus of psychiatric
      research, with the primary goal of early identification of biomarkers of susceptibility to
      schizophrenia and the development of individualized interventions to prevent or delay
      progression. Longitudinal studies have shown that CHR converted to schizophrenia mainly
      within two years, with a risk of about 30 percent. Self-disorder is one of the core
      characteristics of schizophrenia. The two most basic experiences of self-representation are
      sense of ownership and sense of agency. Sense of ownership refers to the sense that "I"
      perceives "my" body, while sense of agency refers to the sense that "I" experiences "my"
      actions and their consequences are initiated by "me". Some studies have shown that patients
      with schizophrenia show defects in the sense of ownership and agency. The most commonly used
      paradigm for observing "sense of ownership" and "sense of agency" is the rubber hand illusion
      (RHI) or the virtual hand illusion (VHI). In this study, the VHI experimental paradigm will
      be used to detect the self-representation of the individuals at high risk for psychosis, and
      the clinical outcome will be observed for one year.The hypothesis is that the subjects who
      exhibit abnormal illusion experience in VHI experiment are more likely to transition into
      psychotic disorders.
    

Detailed description: 
      This study is conducted according to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. All
      participants are recruited at the Shanghai Mental Health Center (SMHC) or its affiliate, the
      Shanghai Psychotherapy and Psychological Counseling Center (SPCC) with written informed
      consent, approved by the Research Ethics Committee of SMHC. For those younger than 18 years,
      both the adolescents and their next of kin or legal guardians are provided informed consents.
      The outpatients are recommended by doctors to participate in our CHR screening. After being
      screened and interviewed, those who meet the inclusion criteria are informed and signed
      written informed consent. Once the subjects are recruited, clinical evaluation, VHI and MCCB
      test will be conducted. In addition, CHR individuals will be followed up at one-year node.
    

Intervention name(s): Virtual hand illusion (VHI)
Intervention type(s): Diagnostic Test
Intervention description(s): Using VHI, the two basic self-representation of sense of ownership and sense of agency of the subjects will be observed.
Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        This study mainly observe the behavioral representation and its predictive role in
        transition outcome of CHR individuals, who meeting the criteria of psychosis-risk syndromes
        (COPS) for the existence of one or more of psychosis high risk syndromes, such as brief
        intermittent psychotic syndrome (BIPS), attenuated positive symptom syndrome (APSS), and
        genetic risk and deterioration syndrome (DRDS).
      
Keywords: sense of ownership; sense of agency; virtual hand illusion