Lempel-Ziv complexity in schizophrenia: a MEG study.

Objective: The neurodevelopmental-neurodegenerative debate is a basic issue in the field of the neuropathological basis of schizophrenia (SCH). Neurophysiological techniques have been scarcely involved in such debate, but nonlinear analysis methods may contribute to it.

Methods: Fifteen patients (age range 23-42 years) matching DSM IV-TR criteria for SCH, and 15 sex- and age-matched control subjects (age range 23-42 years) underwent a resting-state magnetoencephalographic evaluation and Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) scores were calculated.

Practicing exorcism in schizophrenia.

Historically, many cases of demonic possession have masked major psychiatric disorder. Our aim is to increase awareness that symptoms of schizophrenia are still being classified as demonic possession by priests today. We report the case of a 28-year-old patient who had been diagnosed 5 years previously with paranoid schizophrenia (treated with clozapine, risperidone, ziprasidone and onlanzapine without a complete response) and was also receiving treatment in a first episode psychosis unit in Spain.

The perception of emotion-free faces in schizophrenia: a magneto-encephalography study.

Objective: To analyze how patients suffering from schizophrenia perceive faces of unknown individuals that show no actual emotions in order to investigate the attribution of meanings to a relatively non-significant but complex sensory experience.

Design: Analysis of baseline and poststimulation magneto-encephalographic recordings. The stimuli consisted of four pictures with neutral emotional expression of male and female faces of Spanish individuals unknown to research subjects.