Deciphering white matter microstructural alterations in catatonia according to ICD-11: replication and machine learning analysis.

Catatonia is a severe psychomotor disorder characterized by motor, affective and cognitive-behavioral abnormalities. Although previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies suggested white matter (WM) dysconnectivity in the pathogenesis of catatonia, it is unclear whether microstructural alterations of WM tracts connecting psychomotor regions might contribute to a better classification of catatonia patients. Here, diffusion-weighted MRI data were collected from two independent cohorts (whiteCAT/replication cohort) of patients with (n = 45/n = 13) and without (n = 56/n = 26) catatonia according to ICD-11 criteria.

Arthur Schopenhauer: An underappreciated philosopher in psychiatry and his applied epistemology of body and self- experience.

Background: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the most important thinkers of the 19th century. Although his writings have exerted great influence in many different disciplines, his epistemological concepts and analysis of the body and self-experience were rarely considered in the context of psychiatric research of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and depression (MDD).

Methods: The method applied for the study of anomalous self and body-experience first consists in the close reading and analysis of Schopenhauer's most influential writings, namely his opus magnus "The World as Will and Representation" and his dissertation "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason".

Parkinsonism, Psychomotor Slowing, Negative and Depressive Symptoms in Schizophrenia Spectrum and Mood Disorders: Exploring Their Intricate Nexus Using a Network Analytic Approach.

Background And Hypothesis: Parkinsonism, psychomotor slowing, negative and depressive symptoms show evident phenomenological similarities across different mental disorders. However, the extent to which they interact with each other is currently unclear. Here, we hypothesized that parkinsonism is an independent motor abnormality showing limited associations with psychomotor slowing, negative and depressive symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum (SSD), and mood disorders (MOD).

Deciphering the interplay between psychopathological symptoms, sensorimotor, cognitive and global functioning: a transdiagnostic network analysis.

Background: Understanding the relationship between psychopathology and major domains of human neurobehavioral functioning may identify new transdiagnostic treatment targets. However, studies examining the interrelationship between psychopathological symptoms, sensorimotor, cognitive, and global functioning in a transdiagnostic sample are lacking. We hypothesized a close relationship between sensorimotor and cognitive functioning in a transdiagnostic patient sample.

[German version of the Northoff scale for subjective experience in catatonia (NSSC-dv) : A validated instrument for examination of the subjective experience in catatonia].

Patients with catatonia often show serious motor, affective and behavioral symptoms, behind which the subjective experience often remains hidden. Therefore, this study disseminates our own systematic empirical investigation of the subjective experience of catatonia patients to a German-speaking audience of clinicians and researchers. Based on current evidence and the clinical experience of the authors, the self-report questionnaire Northoff Scale for Subjective Experience in Catatonia (NSSC) was modified, extended and validated and now consists of 26 items capturing the subjective experience of catatonia in its clinical diversity.

Overcoming the translational crisis of contemporary psychiatry - converging phenomenological and spatiotemporal psychopathology.

Despite all neurobiological/neurocomputational progress in psychiatric research, recent authors speak about a 'crisis of contemporary psychiatry'. Some argue that we do not yet know the computational mechanisms underlying the psychopathological symptoms ('crisis of mechanism') while others diagnose a neglect of subjectivity, namely first-person experience ('crisis of subjectivity'). In this perspective, we propose that Phenomenological Psychopathology, due to its focus on first-person experience of space and time, is in an ideal position to address the crisis of subjectivity and, if extended to the brain's spatiotemporal topographic-dynamic structure as key focus of Spatiotemporal Psychopathology, the crisis of mechanism.

[Spatiotemporal psychopathology-German version of the Scale for Space and Time Experience in Psychosis (STEP) : A validated measurement instrument for the assessment of spatial and temporal experience in psychotic disorders].

Historical authors (e.g., Ludwig Binswanger and Eugène Minkowski) postulated that the experience of patients with schizophrenia is characterized by time fragmentation.

Extension, translation and preliminary validation of the Northoff Scale for Subjective Experience in Catatonia (NSSC).

Background: In the last two decades, much neuroscientific research has been done on the pathomechanisms of catatonia. However, catatonic symptoms have mainly been assessed with clinical rating scales based on observer ratings. Although catatonia is often associated with strong affective reactions, the subjective domain of catatonia has simply been neglected in scientific research.