Analysis of Neurophysiological Parameters in Patients with Acute Psychotic Disorder with Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Abstract

The paper analyzes physiological parameters reflecting the function of motor imagination in patients with acute psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia and acute psychotic disorder without symptoms of schizophrenia in comparison with a control group of healthy subjects. The study involved 44 patients with acute psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia, 33 patients with acute psychotic disorder without symptoms of schizophrenia, and 77 healthy subjects. We analyzed vegetative (galvanic skin response, heart rate) and electrophysiological (spectral power of the μ-rhythm and its asymmetry) indicators in the state of calm wakefulness and their change during motor imagination. The found experimental data show common features and differences in physiological reactions during motor imagination in patients with the first psychotic episodes. In patients with acute psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia, the change in galvanic skin response is excessively expressed and the suppression of the μ rhythm is reduced. In patients with acute psychotic disorder without symptoms of schizophrenia, there were no differences from healthy subjects in autonomic shifts and electrophysiological changes, except for suppression of the μ rhythm in the right frontal region, which exceeded the corresponding changes in both patients with acute psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia and healthy subjects.