A time-series network approach to auditory verbal hallucinations: Examining dynamic interactions using experience
Alyssa Jongeneel1, George Aalbers2, Imogen Bell3
1Department of Clinical Psychology, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Van der Boechorstraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, Zoutkeetsingel 40, 2512 HN, Den Haag, the Netherlands.
Schizophrenia Research
|November 30, 2019
Summary
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are mainly linked to short-term mental state factors. Once active, AVHs seem to sustain themselves, highlighting the need for trigger assessment in therapy.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are complex phenomena.
- Understanding daily fluctuations in AVHs is crucial for developing interventions.
- Network analysis of time-series data offers a method to study AVH dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal relationships between auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) and various psychological variables.
- To identify key factors influencing the daily experience of voice-hearing using network analysis.
Main Methods:
- 95 individuals with daily voice-hearing completed a 6-day Experience Sampling Method (ESM) study.
- Multilevel vector auto-regression was used to analyze relationships between voice-hearing, affect, thoughts, dissociation, and paranoia.
- Network analysis (between-subjects, contemporaneous, temporal) identified interconnected variables.
Main Results:
- Voice-hearing co-occurred with all assessed variables.
- Uncontrollable thoughts and paranoia were predicted by voice-hearing.
- All variables, including voice-hearing, exhibited strong self-predictive (autoregressive) patterns.
Conclusions:
- Severe voice-hearing may be primarily influenced by short-term mental state factors.
- Activated voice-hearing appears to be self-sustaining.
- Therapeutic strategies should consider assessing and addressing AVH triggers and associated distress.
Keywords:
Auditory verbal hallucinationsExperience sampling methodNetwork analysisPsychosisVoice hearing
