Sensations of skin infestation linked to abnormal frontolimbic brain reactivity and differences in self-representation

Abstract

(2015) Sensations of skin infestation linked to abnormal frontolimbic brain reactivity and differences in self-representation. Neuropsychologia,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96] This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/56107/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse:Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University.Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. S0028-3932 (15) This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Regional gray matter volume and structural network strength in somatic vs. non-somatic delusional disorders

“…We also found evidence for structural brain changes in insular cortex, a brain region known to mediate feelings of disgust and as a potential source of interoceptive predictions (Wicker et al, 2003;Craig, 2003;Paulus and Stein, 2009). Similarly, a recent functional MRI study in DI patients found changes in neural activity not only in frontal but also insular and temporal cortices next to limbic structures, such as the amygdala (Eccles et al,. 2015).…”

Functional magnetic resonance imaging in dermatology: The skin, the brain and the invisible

“…[104][105][106] Despite lacking clear evidence, [107] , it is speculated that in patients with delusional infestation, overactive contagious itch centres or an overactivity of the mirror neuron system may play a role. [98,108] Contagious itch points to the suggestibility of itch and potentially substantial placebo effects. [95] It has even been speculated that if there is a central source able to produce itch, there must also be a way to reverse the mechanism and produce cure.…”

“…[138] Although classified separately in the DSM-V, [139] there is often a clinical overlap between SPD and OPD (maybe because of this shared fMRI finding), which might also explain the profound treatment resistance often observed in SPD. [140,141] Eccles et al [108] examined the neural basis of delusional infestation (DI). These patients had a poorer sensitivity to interoceptive signals and greater susceptibility to take on an illusion of body ownership.…”

Subjective embodiment during the rubber hand illusion predicts severity of premonitory sensations and tics in Tourette Syndrome

“…In some clinical populations, e.g. people with schizophrenia (Thakkar, Nichols, McIntosh, & Park, 2011), or delusional skin infestation (Eccles et al, 2015), there is an enhanced plasticity of body ownership, with greater proprioceptive drift towards the rubber hand than controls. In contrast, people with autistic spectrum conditions have a reduced susceptibility to the rubber hand illusion (Cascio, Foss-Feig, Burnette, Heacock, & Cosby, 2012;Paton, Hohwy, & Enticott, 2012), suggesting that clinical syndromes are distributed along a spectrum of body ownership plasticity, arguably a proxy for the strength of self-representation (such as self/other distinction).…”