The Neural Correlates of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia

Examples From MRI Literature

Mørch-Johnsen, Lynn
Agartz, Ingrid
Jensen, Jimmy

¹Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
²NORMENT and K.G. Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
³Centre for Psychiatric Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
⁴Centre for Psychology, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden

Jimmy Jensen, Centre for Psychology, Kristianstad University, Elmetorpsvägen 15, Kristianstad, 29188, Sweden. Email: [email protected]

Received October 31, 2017

Received in revised form November 13, 2017

Accepted November 14, 2017

Clinical EEG and Neuroscience 49(1):p 12-17, January 2018. | DOI: 10.1177/1550059417746214

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have a negative impact on psychosocial functioning and disease outcome. It is therefore important to investigate the pathophysiology underlying negative symptoms as this may aid the development of better treatment. In the current article, examples from studies investigating neural correlates of negative symptoms in schizophrenia are given. Investigations using both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging are presented at different levels of symptomatology descriptions, from the more heterogenous construct of negative symptoms to more single discrete symptoms. Some methods to improve imaging studies of negative symptoms in schizophrenia are also suggested.