title: Immersion in altered experience: An investigation of the relationship between absorption and psychopathology.
abstract: Understanding alterations in perceptual experiences as a component of the basic symptom structure of psychosis may improve early detection and the identification of subtle shifts that can precede symptom onset or exacerbation. We explored the phenomenological construct of absorption and psychotic experiences in both clinical (bipolar psychosis and schizophrenia spectrum) and non-clinical participants. Participants with psychosis endorsed significantly higher absorption compared to the non-clinical group. Absorption was positively correlated with all types of hallucinations and multiple types of delusions. The analysis yielded two distinct cluster groups that demarcated a distinction along the continuum of self-disturbance: on characterized by attenuated ego boundaries and the other stable ego boundaries. The study suggests that absorption is a potentially important but under-researched component of psychosis that overlaps with, but is not identical to the more heavily theorized constructs of aberrant salience and hyperreflexivity.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1601 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, United States. Electronic address: crosen@psych.uic.edu.
authors.forename: Cherise
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.affiliation: Felton Institute, 1500 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, United States.
authors.forename: Nev
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: University of California, Department of Psychiatry, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 8505, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
authors.forename: Kayla A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1601 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
authors.forename: Jennifer K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Melbourne
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1601 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
authors.forename: Linda S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Grossman
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1601 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, United States; Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 820 South Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
authors.forename: Rajiv P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003702:Delusions / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aberrant salience; Absorption; Delusions; Hallucinations; Phenomenology; Psychosis