Motion sickness susceptibility patterns of psychotic illness

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Personality Psychology

Background:

• Motion sickness susceptibility serves as a neurophysiologic index for personality differences.
• Previous studies indicated that individuals at the mid-spectrum of this personality continuum, when hospitalized, presented with earlier onset and longer stays, often diagnosed with schizophrenia.
• The precise relationship between this mid-spectrum, early-onset disorder and other psychotic illnesses remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between motion sickness susceptibility, personality spectrum, and psychiatric diagnoses.
• To clarify the nature of mid-spectrum psychiatric disorders and their association with other psychotic illnesses.
• To examine the balance between early-onset schizophrenia-like disorders and older-onset affective disorders across the personality spectrum.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of a large patient sample.
• Correlation of motion sickness susceptibility with clinical presentation and psychiatric diagnosis.
• Comparative analysis of demographic and diagnostic patterns across the personality spectrum.

Main Results:

• A midspectrum psychiatric illness, predominantly diagnosed as schizophrenia in young men, was identified.
• This early-onset disorder is counterbalanced at the personality spectrum extremes by an older-onset illness, more common in women and diagnosed as affective.
• Evidence suggests a gradual transition between these two types of psychiatric illness.

Conclusions:

• Motion sickness susceptibility can delineate a spectrum of personality that correlates with distinct psychiatric illness profiles.
• Schizophrenia in young men and affective disorders in older women represent opposing ends of a continuum related to personality and susceptibility.
• A transitional pattern exists between these disorders, suggesting a shared underlying neurophysiologic basis.