Motor asymmetry, a neurobiologic abnormality in the major psychoses.
A century after Kraepelin, clinical scientists still debate whether the major functional psychoses, schizophrenia and bipolar illness, are separate disease entities or fall on opposite ends of a spectrum of severe psychopathology. In a study of control of hand-muscle force, patients with schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder exhibited opposite asymmetries, with greater right-hand dyscontrol in schizophrenia, and greater left-hand dyscontrol in bipolar disorder. This suggests that there is greater pathological involvement of the dominant hemisphere in schizophrenia and of the non-dominant hemisphere in bipolar disorder.
Lohr
J B
JB
Psychiatry Service, Department of Veterans Medical Center, San Diego, CA 92161, USA.
Caligiuri
M P
MP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology