Abstract
Self-disorders have been hypothesized to be an underlying and trait-like core feature of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and a certain degree of temporal stability of self-disorders would therefore be expected. The aim of the study was to examine the persistence of self-disorders measured by the Examination of Anomalous Self Experiences over a time span of 5 years. 48 patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders were thoroughly assessed for psychopathology at baseline and 5 years later. Self-disorders were assessed by the Examination of Anomalous Self Experiences. The level of self-disorders was same at the two occasions for the full Examination of Anomalous Self Disorders and for four out of the five domains. For one domain, the level of self-disorders increased slightly from baseline to follow-up. The correlations between baseline and follow-up were moderate. 9 out of the 13 most-frequently rated items at baseline showed equal frequencies at follow-up. The baseline level of self-disorders predicted global symptomatic, but not functional outcome. Self-disorders measured by the Examination of Anomalous Self Experiences show a high level of temporal persistence over 5 years and predict symptomatic outcome.
Highlights
The first reports in contemporary psychiatry pointing to a disorder of the self appeared at the turn of the millennium [18, 25]
We have previously reported temporal persistence of selfdisorders measured by an early precursor of the EASE [20]
The Wilcoxon signed-rank test results show that the mean for both Global Assessment of Functioning-Symptom scale (GAF-S) and Global Assessment of Functioning-Function scale (GAF-F) increased significantly (P < 0.0001) from baseline to follow-up, reflecting at better level of functioning and a lower level of symptoms at follow-up
Summary
The first reports in contemporary psychiatry pointing to a disorder of the self appeared at the turn of the millennium [18, 25]. The main idea from these studies was that a disorder of the self is the core feature of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. It was not a novel insight, but can be found in most foundational texts on schizophrenia [1, 2, 10, 14, 17, 31]. It is postulated that the affected structure is the ‘minimal’ or ‘core’ self, which enables us to experience ourselves as self-same subjects who experience the world from our own first-person perspective [3, 6]. One’s field of experience (e.g., thoughts or sensations) may be felt as increasingly distant and spatialized (e.g., thoughts are experienced as physical objects) [30]
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