Schizophrenia Group

Schizophrenia is one of the most disabling mental disorders for sufferers, impairing functioning on many levels from low-level cognitive processes to social interaction in the everyday world. These deficits can persist throughout life, making it vital to search for ways to improve the early identification and treatment of this illness.

We combine cognitive, brain (EEG, MRI) and genetic information to study the nature of schizophrenia and psychosis in both children and adolescents/young adults. Our work is contributing to understanding of the functional neurological changes in psychotic illness, and has led to advances in treatments.

Insights from our cognitive work have been utilised in a series of projects aimed at improving social outcomes and neurocognition in people with schizophrenia. This has been combined with intervention programs aimed at helping people with a severe mental illness return to work and has contributed to the development of a social cognition intervention program.

Current Projects

Establishing the Neural Mechanisms of Auditory-Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia – The Voices 2 Project

This NHMRC-funded research project builds on prior work that identified electrophysiological self-suppression (ESS) abnormalities as a potential biomarker for schizophrenia. The study will be the first to use an objective, biological marker of inner speech to investigate the neural mechanisms behind auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in schizophrenia (SZ).

Hypotheses:

1. People with schizophrenia experiencing current AVH will show the most significant deficits on the Electroencephalographic Marker of Inner Speech (EMIS) compared to healthy controls.
2. People with a past history of AVH, but not current AVH, will have intermediate EMIS scores between those with current AVH and healthy controls.
3. SZ patients with no history of AVH will have EMIS scores similar to healthy controls.

Additionally, the project will test the sensitivity and specificity of the EMIS paradigm by comparing inner speech and AVH in patients with SZ and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

Additional Hypothesis: 4. Each group of SZ patients will differ from BPD patients in EMIS scores, demonstrating the sensitivity and specificity of EMIS for detecting inner speech abnormalities in SZ.

Data Collection:

• Electroencephalography (EEG)
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Participant Recruitment: We are seeking individuals diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, or Borderline Personality Disorder, with or without auditory hallucinations. Participation involves a clinical interview, an EEG, an optional MRI scan, and self-report questionnaires. Participants will be reimbursed.

Contact:
Carla Haroutonian
Phone: 9114 4377
Email: carla.haroutonian@sydney.edu.au

Use of an Integrated Mobile Health Device to Manage Severe Mental Illness in Young Adults – The unWIRED Project

This project addresses a significant issue: community mental health services often react to crises rather than proactively managing symptoms of severe mental illness. The unWIRED project employs an eHealth device to monitor arousal and activity levels, using experience sampling to create a comprehensive picture of the mental health of young adults with severe mental illness.

Progress:
The project has completed a randomized controlled trial in Western Sydney Local Health District and Sydney Local Health District.

Contact for Results:
Professor Anthony Harris
Phone: 8890 6688
Email: anthony.harris@sydney.edu.au

Previous Projects:

• Childhood Onset Psychosis: Risk Factors and Biological Markers
• GEM Study: General and Emotional Cognition in First Onset Psychosis
• Does Cortical Connectivity Alter with Clinical State in Schizophrenia?
• The Early Psychosis and Mood Disorders Project
• Cognitive Remediation and Employment Prospects for People with Mental Illness
• Mental State Reasoning and Emotion Recognition Training in Schizophrenia
• ENHANCE: Using N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) for Negative Symptoms in Clozapine-Resistant Schizophrenia
• Investigating Self-Generated Sensation Suppression in Schizophrenia Using EEG
• The UNWIRED Mental Health Project: Using Wearable e-Health Devices for Young People with Severe Mental Illness