Delusions - Etiology, Frequency & Neural Correlates

妄想经历是一种沉重的精神症状，导致巨大的心理压力和恐惧。此外，它通常会导致社交退缩以及相当大的功能丧失。妄想发生在许多精神疾病中，包括精神分裂症、单相和双相情感障碍或创伤后应激障碍。许多不同症状的出现阻碍了对精神疾病发展的调查，因此，这是一个非常异质的现象学。假设，病因的阐明应该通过探索一个更狭义的精神病理变量来减轻。因此，该项目关注的是最常见的妄想思维形式：参照思维和偏执思维。由于这两种形式不仅在疾病实体中可观察到，而且在一般人群中也存在，因此它们将在非临床样本中表征。这为在没有临床样本中经常出现的混杂因素（例如药物、心理社会后果、合并症、物质使用）的情况下进行调查提供了重要的优势。第一个子项目旨在首次探索德国普通人群中妄想的频率和维度。使用生态瞬时评估（EMA）将收集至少1000名受试者的数据。在第二个子项目中，124个经历不同程度妄想的子项目将再次通过心理学和神经科学的方法进行分析。采用访谈、问卷调查、性能测试以及(f)MRI测量，将探讨妄想出现的不同生物心理社会模型假设。重点是在心理和神经层面上的各种变量（异常显著归因、心理理论加工、直接下结论偏见、执行功能）的相互作用。神经关联将使用基于网络的方法进行研究，例如动态因果建模（DCM）和图论。除了更精确地描述妄想的病因外，该项目的研究结果为区分生物学和心理学治疗方法提供了有意义的新动力。

Delusional experiences are a burdensome psychiatric symptomatology leading to great psychological strain and fear. In addition, it oftentimes entails social withdrawal as well as a considerable loss of functioning. Delusions occur in a number of psychiatric diseases including schizophrenia, uni- and bipolar affective disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder. The investigation of the development of psychiatric diseases is impeded by the occurrence of a multitude of differing symptoms and hence, a very heterogeneous phenomenology. Assumably, the elucidation of etiological factors should be alleviated by exploring a more narrowly defined psychopathological variable. Therefore, the project focuses on the most frequent forms of delusional ideation: referential and paranoid ideation. Since both forms are not only observable across disease entities, but are also present in the general population, they will be characterized in a non-clinical sample. This offers the important advantage to investigate them in the absence of confounding factors often present in clinical samples (e.g. medication, psychosocial consequences, comorbidity, substance use). The first subproject aims to explore the frequency and dimensionality of delusions in the German general population for the first time. Using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data of at least 1.000 subjects will be collected. In the second subproject 124 subproject experiencing varying levels of delusional ideation will be analyzed again by psychological and neuroscientific methods. Employing interview, questionnaire, performance tests as well as (f)MRI measures differentiated biopsychosocial model assumptions of the emergence of delusions will be explored. The focus is on the interaction of various variables (Aberrant Salience attribution, Theory of Mind processing, Jumping to Conclusions bias, Executive functioning) at the psychological as well as the neural level. Neural correlates will be studied using network-based approaches, such as Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) and Graph Theory. In addition to the more precise characterization of the etiology of delusions, the findings of the project promise meaningful new impulses for the differentiation of biological and psychological treatment approaches.