Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:48:05.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Electrodermal Activity and its Relevance to Vulnerability Research in Schizophrenics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Robert Olbrich*
Affiliation:
Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim

Extract

Current interest in vulnerability to schizophrenia has been stimulated mainly by the work of Zubin and associates (Zubin & Spring, 1977; Zubin & Steinhauer, 1981). Figure 1, which was first published by Zubin & Spring in 1977, illustrates the basic idea common to every diathesis-stress model: The outbreak of a psychotic episode cannot be explained solely by referring to environmental events: a susceptibility of the individual has also to be taken into account. Ways to identify vulnerable individuals were discussed by Zubin & Steinhauer (1981), who introduced the important distinction between trait as opposed to episode markers. Only stable characteristics relate to vulnerability.

Type
II. From the Perspective of Neurobiology and Pharmacotherapy
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasen, N. C. (unpublished) Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptons (SANS). Unpublished paper. Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.Google Scholar
Bernstein, A. S., Frith, C. D., Gruzelier, J. H., et al (1982) An analysis of the skin conductance orienting response in samples of American, British, and German schizophrenics. Biological Psychology, 14, 155211.Google Scholar
Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L., Marcus, Y., Cornblatt, B., et al (1984) The New York high-risk project. In Children at Risk for Schizophrenia: A Longitudinal Perspective (eds N. F. Watt, E. J. Anthony, L. C. Wynne, et al). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Frith, C. D. & Allen, H. A. (1983) The skin conductance orienting response as an index of attention. Biological Psychology, 17, 2739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, C. D., Stevens, M., Johnstone, E. C. & Crow, T. J. (1979) Skin conductance responsivity during acute episodes of schizophrenia as a predictor of symptomatic improvement. Psychological Medicine, 9, 101106.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Venables, P. H. (1972) Skin conductance orienting activity in a heterogeneous sample of schizophrenics. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 155, 277287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mednick, S. A. & McNeil, T. F. (1968) Current methodology in research on the etiology of schizophrenia: Serious difficulties which suggest the use of the high-risk-group method. Psychological Bulletin, 70, 681693.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A. & Schulsinger, F. (1974) Studies of children at high risk for schizophrenia. In Genetics, Environment, and Psychopathology (eds S. A. Mednick, F. Schulsinger, J. Higgins, et al). Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A., Schulsinger, F., Teasdale, T. W., et al (1978) Schizophrenia in high-risk children: Sex differences in predisposing factors. In Cognitive Defects in the Development of Mental Illness (ed. Serban, G.). New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Nuechterlein, K. H. (1987) Vulnerability models for schizophrenia: State of the art. In Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia (eds Häfner, H., Gattaz, W. F. & Janzarik, W.). Heidelberg: Springer.Google Scholar
Nuechterlein, K. H. & Dawson, M. E. (1984) A heuristic vulnerability/stress model of schizophrenic episodes. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 10, 300312.Google Scholar
Öhman, A. (1981) Electrodermal activity and vulnerability to schizophrenia: A review. Biological Psychology, 12, 87145.Google Scholar
Olbrich, R. & Mussgay, L. (1986) Eine experimentelle Untersuchung zur Relevanz des Zubin schen Vulnerabilitätskonzepts als Risikomodell für schizophrene Episoden. Projektantrag zum Sonderforschungsbereich 258 der Universität Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Prentzky, R. A., Salzman, L. F. & Klein, R. H. (1981) Habituation and conditioning of skin conductance responses in children at risk. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7, 281291.Google Scholar
Schneider, S. J. (1982) Electrodermal activity and therapeutic response to neuroleptic treatment in chronic schizophrenic inpatients. Psychological Medicine, 12, 607613.Google Scholar
Stern, J. A., Surphlis, W. & Koff, E. (1965) Electrodermal responsiveness as related to psychiatric diagnosis and prognosis. Psychophysiology, 2, 5161.Google Scholar
Sturgeon, D. A., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., et al (1981) Psychophysiological responses of schizophrenic patients to high and low expressed emotion relatives. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 4045.Google Scholar
Sturgeon, D. A., Turpin, G., Kuipers, L., et al (1984) Psychophysiological responses of schizophrenic patients to high and low expressed emotion relatives: A follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 6269.Google Scholar
Tarrier, N., Vaughn, C., Lader, M. H., et al (1979) Bodily reactions to people and events in schizophrenics. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 311315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zahn, T. P. (1986) Psychophysiological approaches to psychopathology. In Psychophysiology: Systems, Processes, and Applications (eds Coles, M. G. H., Donchin, E. & Porges, S. W.). New York-London: Guilford.Google Scholar
Zahn, T. P., Carpenter, W. T. & McGlashan, T. H. (1981) Autonomic nervous system activity in acute schizophrenia, part II. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 260266.Google Scholar
Zubin, J. & Spring, B. (1977) Vulnerability – A new view of schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 103126.Google Scholar
Zubin, J. & Steinhauer, S. R. (1981) How to break the logjam in schizophrenia: A look beyond genetics. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 169, 477492.Google Scholar
Zubin, J., Steinhauer, S. R., Day, R., et al (1985) Schizophrenia at the cross roads: A blueprint for the 80s. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 26, 217240.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.