Therapeutic Interventions for Psychosis Research Lab - TIP Lab

This week’s article explores how thinking and decision-making skills change in people at different stages of psychosis. Researchers compared people experiencing their first episode of psychosis with those who have long-term schizophrenia. They found that everyone had some difficulty with basic thinking tasks, but early-stage patients struggled most with recognizing emotions, while long-term patients had the most trouble with more complex decision-making. Brain scans also showed that the brain stays more flexible in early psychosis but becomes less so over time, suggesting that early treatment may have the biggest impact.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

–

This week’s summary highlights how artificial intelligence is being used to predict clinical outcomes in psychotic disorders. Across 30 studies, researchers tested AI learning models using information such as symptoms, cognition, brain scans, and treatment history. Prediction accuracy ranged widely, but key factors like gender, income, relapse history, medication use, and brain changes played important roles. Overall, the review shows that AI holds real promise for improving mental-health care, but more work is needed before these models can reliably support clinical decisions.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

This week’s research summary explores how brain function changes across different stages of schizophrenia.
Researchers examined neural abnormalities linked to working memory deficits in people at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, those with first-episode psychosis (FEP), and chronic schizophrenia. CHR and FEP groups showed reduced activation in key brain regions for working memory. FEP patients also showed lower activation in some regions compared to chronic patients, suggesting that early-stage neural deficits may partially normalize over time.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

This week’s research summary reviews the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for sleep problems in people with or at risk of psychosis.
This systematic review of 14 studies found that CBT shows strong potential and significantly improved sleep in this population. Interestingly, therapists often adapted the therapy, avoiding techniques like sleep restriction (which could worsen symptoms like paranoia) and instead using gentler strategies, such as setting regular routines.
Participants didn’t just sleep better but also reported improved mood, reduced anxiety, and better daily functioning.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

This week’s research summary uses a cutting-edge machine learning approach to examine cognitive impairment in psychosis. Using AI, researchers predicted cognitive test scores based on risk factors like age, education, childhood trauma, and medication dose. While patients with psychosis scored lower on average, the study found this was primarily linked to more environmental factors, like education and adversity, rather than the diagnosis alone. This is powerful because it suggests that cognitive challenges aren’t inherently part of psychosis. By addressing these other influences, we may be able to significantly improve cognitive abilities and overall quality of life.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

Hi everyone! We are still looking for psychiatrically healthy participants for our study!

We are looking for:
Men aged 25-30 and 32-46
Women aged 40-45 and 55-62

If you are interested, see the poster below, and please reach out to Jess (contact info on the poster) for more information!

This week’s summary covers a five-year study of over 3,500 adolescents, exploring the link between sleep disruptions and psychosis vulnerability. The study found that poor sleep consistently predicted an increase in psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) over time. The research identified a specific cognitive pathway: poor sleep was linked to difficulties with response inhibition (the ability to suppress an impulse), which in turn explained the rise in PLEs.
These findings highlight poor sleep and impaired inhibition as key early indicators of psychosis risk, suggesting valuable targets for prevention.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

Our research summary today explores the nature of mental imagery in individuals experiencing early psychosis.
Contrary to previous hypotheses, this study of 42 individuals with recent-onset psychosis did not find unusually vivid or uncontrollable mental imagery. Instead, the findings suggest that emotional states are key. Greater anxiety, depression, and negative symptoms were linked to less vivid imagery, while an elevated mood was the only factor associated with more vivid imagery.
This research suggests that emotional symptoms may impact mental imagery more significantly than the core features of psychosis itself.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

Today’s research summary examines the profound impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on patients with schizophrenia.
Researchers found that 93% of people with schizophrenia surveyed reported experiencing at least one ACE, with parental separation or death being the most common. The findings revealed a clear positive correlation where more ACEs are associated with more severe symptoms were. Specific experiences like family incarceration were also linked to symptom severity, while physical abuse was associated with hospital admissions.
This research underscores the critical need for early intervention and support for children exposed to trauma, given its potential role in the development of schizophrenia.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

Today’s research summary delves into the link between how we regulate emotions and the experience of psychosis.
This longitudinal study examined “emotion regulation flexibility,” which is the ability to adapt emotional responses to a situation, and its role in maintaining psychotic-like symptoms. The results revealed a nuanced relationship where not noticing lacking contextual information was linked to more positive symptoms (like hallucinations) but fewer negative symptoms (like emotional flatness). Furthermore, the ability to suppress emotional expression actually predicted a later increase in positive symptoms.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

Today’s research summary investigates the complex relationship between substance use and psychosis spectrum symptoms in adolescents.
Using data from a longitudinal study of over 11,000 adolescents, researchers found that those who initiated cannabis use also reported more psychosis-like symptoms and distress. This supports the “shared vulnerability hypothesis,” which suggests that underlying factors may predispose an individual to both substance use and psychosis. The study also notes that adolescents may use substances like cannabis, alcohol, or ni****ne to cope with these early, distressing symptoms. These findings highlight the critical need for early interventions that address these underlying vulnerabilities.

Click the link in our bio to read the full article!

-

Today’s article looks at how social thinking patterns can deepen loneliness for people living with schizophrenia. The study found that biases like seeing others as threatening not only increase feelings of isolation directly but also weaken social connections. These insights suggest that targeting social cognitive biases could be an important step toward improving connection and reducing loneliness in recovery.

Click the link in our bio to read more!

-