Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), the perception of voices in the absence of auditory stimuli, are common and distressing symptoms reported by 50%-80% of patients with schizophrenia. However, the results in a number of imaging and electrophysiological studies on the origins of AVH are not consistent, and the underlying pathophysiology remains unclear. The authors enrolled a group of schizophrenia patients and normal-control subjects, age 18-45 years. Two patient groups participated in the study; 1) a group of 8 patients with drug-resistant spontaneous AVHs; and 2) a group of 7 patients whose AVHs were successfully controlled with neuroleptic medication; along with 16 normal-control subjects. The entire sample had EEG recording done, with the AVH group told to press a button when they experienced a hallucination, and the other two groups randomly told when to press the button. In the AVH group, hallucinations were longer in the "eyes-closed" than "eyes-open" condition. There was spreading phase-coupling in the AVH group, intra- and inter-hemispherically, at left and right frontal and temporal areas, under both eyes-closed and eyes-open condition, during the experience of AVH. There was a statistically significant increase of α-band frequency-specific synchrony maximum values in the AVH group. AVHs are considered to be complex features, and, as such, they reflect abnormal functional connectivity in multiple related regions in both intra- and inter-hemispherical brain sites, primarily defined by phase-integration.
Bipolar disorders have been characterized by powerful fluctuations of energy, mood, and thinking patterns. Mood episodes (manic or depressive) could be considered as deviations of a psycho-physiological index above or below a conventionally defined value called ‘normothymia’. In the present study, we analyzed the feedback techniques used to suppress the oscillatory activity exhibited on an inverted pendulum device. Subsequently, we examine the degree that this multimodal feedback design could be considered on a hypothetical pendulum where the mood plays the role of the suspended mass, and the force balance compensation circuitry is substituted by drug-specific therapeutic interventions. The study does not concern a model of bipolar illness that could simulate numerically various phases of mood episodes but focuses on the functional similarities regarding the correction treatments applied on the two different oscillating systems giving a potential perspective of how techniques of feedback control may enhance the conceptualization of the treatment schemes followed in recent guidelines for biological treatment of bipolar disorders. Our theoretical consideration, along with observations on clinical level, gives support to the concept that the compensation of the mood oscillations should be adaptive with selective therapeutic interventions that compensate the excited system in different time scales.
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