Browsing by Author "Pec, Ondrej"

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    Basic symptoms of schizophrenia are related to symptoms of traumatic stress: A pivotal role of sensitization. An observational study
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2022-07-15) Pec, Ondrej; Lysaker, Paul H.; Bob, Petr; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Subjective cognitive deficits have been broadly reported in schizophrenia and described by Huber as basic symptoms. It remains unclear however to what extent they may be related to psychosocial stressors including trauma. Methods: We assessed basic symptoms using the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ) in a sample of 40 patients with schizophrenia. Trauma-related symptoms were assessed concurrently using the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40, symptoms of dissociation using the Dissociative Experiences Scale, and sensitization phenomena using the Complex Partial Seizure-like Symptoms Inventory and Limbic System Checklist-33. Psychotic symptoms were measured by Health of the Nation Outcome Scales. The dosage of antipsychotic medication was assessed in terms of equivalents of chlorpromazine, and antidepressant medication in terms of equivalents of fluoxetine. Spearman correlations were performed to explore the relationship between FCQ and other trauma-related measures. To determine the relative contributions of trauma-related symptoms to basic symptoms a linear regression analysis was performed. Results: The results showed that higher levels of basic symptoms of schizophrenia were associated with greater levels of symptoms of dissociation, traumatic stress, and sensitization or kindling-like processes in schizophrenia. Among the trauma-related variables, sensitization phenomena assessed with Complex Partial Seizure-like Symptoms Inventory were closely associated with basic symptoms. Discussion: These results indicate that basic symptoms measured by FCQ might be related to trauma. The potential of trauma to influence neurodevelopmental hypotheses of schizophrenia is discussed.
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    Conscious brain, metacognition and schizophrenia
    (Elsevier, 2016-07) Bob, Petr; Pec, Ondrej; Mishara, Aaron L.; Touskova, Tereza; Lysaker, Paul H.; Department of Psychiatry, IU School of Medicine
    Recent findings indicate that the binding and synchronization of distributed neural activities are crucial for cognitive processes and consciousness. In addition, there is increasing evidence that disrupted feature binding is related to experiences of disintegration of consciousness in schizophrenia. These data suggest that the disrupted binding and disintegration of consciousness could be typically related to schizophrenia in terms of Bleuler's concept of “splitting”. In this context, deficits in metacognitive capacity in schizophrenia may be conceptualized as a spectrum from more discrete to more synthetic activities, related to specific levels of neural binding and neurocognitive deficits. This review summarizes the recent research on metacognition and its relationship to deficits of conscious awareness that may be found in schizophrenia patients. Deficits in synthetic metacognition are likely linked to the integration of information during specific processes of neural binding. Those in turn may be related to a range of mental activities including reasoning style, learning potential and insight.
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    Contrasting Metacognitive, Social Cognitive and Alexithymia Profiles in Adults with Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia and Substance Use Disorder
    (Elsevier, 2017-11) Lysaker, Paul H.; George, Sunita; Chaudoin-Patzoldt, Kelly A.; Pec, Ondrej; Bob, Petr; Leonhardt, Bethany L.; Vohs, Jenifer L.; James, Alison V.; Wickett, Amanda; Buck, Kelly D.; Dimaggio, Giancarlo; Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Deficits in the ability to recognize and think about mental states are broadly understood to be a root cause of dysfunction in Borderline Personality Disorder (PD). This study compared the magnitude of those deficits relative to other forms of serious mental illness or psychiatric conditions. Assessments were performed using the metacognition assessment scale-abbreviated (MAS-A), emotion recognition using the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test and alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale among adults with schizophrenia (n = 65), Borderline PD (n = 34) and Substance Use disorder without psychosis or significant Borderline traits (n = 32). ANCOVA controlling for age revealed the Borderline PD group had significantly greater levels of metacognitive capacity on the MAS-A than the schizophrenia group and significantly lower levels of metacognitive capacity than the Substance Use group. Multiple comparisons revealed the Borderline PD group had significantly higher self-reflectivity and awareness of the other's mind than the schizophrenia group but lesser mastery and decentration on the MAS-A than substance use group, after controlling for self-report of psychopathology and overall number of PD traits. The Borderline PD and Schizophrenia group had significantly higher levels of alexithymia than the substance use group. No differences were found for emotion recognition. Results suggest metacognitive functioning is differentially affected in different mental disorders.
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    Psychosocial Stress, Epileptic-Like Symptoms and Psychotic Experiences
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-04-14) Bob, Petr; Touskova, Tereza Petraskova; Pec, Ondrej; Raboch, Jiri; Boutros, Nash; Lysaker, Paul; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Background: Current research suggests that stressful life experiences and situations create a substantive effect in the development of the initial manifestations of psychotic disorders and may influence temporo-limbic epileptic-like activity manifesting as cognitive and affective seizure-like symptoms in non-epileptic conditions. Methods: The current study assessed trauma history, hair cortisol levels, epileptic-like manifestations and other psychopathological symptoms in 56 drug naive adult young women experiencing their initial occurrence of psychosis. Results: Hair cortisol levels among patients experiencing their initial episode of psychosis, were significantly correlated with stress symptoms measured by Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (r = - 0.48, p < 0.01), and complex partial seizure-like symptoms measured by the Complex Partial Seizure-Like Symptoms Inventory (r = - 0.33, p < 0.05) and LSCL-33 (r = - 0.33, p < 0.05). Hair cortisol levels were not found to be significantly correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression measured by Beck depression Inventory and Zung Anxiety Scale. Conclusion: These findings suggest a significant relationship between epileptic-like symptoms and stress responses demonstrated by patients in their first psychotic episode. These findings may suggest the potential for research to explore usefulness of anticonvulsant treatment in patients who do not respond to usual psychotropic medication.