title: Cortical thickness in individuals with non-clinical and clinical psychotic symptoms.
abstract: Symptoms that are linked to psychosis are also experienced by individuals who are not in need of care. In the present study, cortical thickness was investigated in these individuals. Fifty individuals with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations (most of them also experienced other non-clinical psychotic symptoms), 50 patients with a psychotic disorder and auditory verbal hallucinations, and 50 healthy control subjects underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. Data were analysed using FreeSurfer. Cortical thickness in the pars orbitalis, paracentral lobule, fusiform gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus was lowest in patients, intermediate in the non-clinical hallucinating group, and highest in control subjects. The patients also showed thinning in widespread additional areas compared to the two other groups, whereas both hallucinating groups showed similar levels of thinning in the insula. Ranking the levels of cortical thickness per brain region across groups revealed that for 88% of brain regions, cortical thickness was lowest in patients, intermediate in the non-clinical hallucinating group, and highest in controls. These findings show that individuals with non-clinical psychotic symptoms show a similar but less pronounced pattern of cortical thinning as patients with a psychotic disorder, which is suggestive of a similar, but milder underlying pathophysiology in this group compared to the psychosis group.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands 3 Centre for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, Shrewsbury, 01545, Massachusetts, USA Remko.vanLutterveld@umassmed.edu.
authors.forename: Remko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Lutterveld
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Martijn P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van den Heuvel
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands 4 Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EG, UK.
authors.forename: Kelly M J
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Diederen
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands 5 Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
authors.forename: Antoin D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: de Weijer
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marieke J H
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Begemann
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rachel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Brouwer
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kirstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Daalman
authors.affiliation: 6 Parnassia Groep, 2553 RJ The Hague, The Netherlands 7 Department of Psychiatry, University of Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan Dirk
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Blom
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: René S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Iris E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Sommer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: auditory hallucination; continuum; psychosis; schizophrenia; structural MRI