Schizotypy, the brain, and strange face illusions in the mirror: trait-state approach & neurodevelopmental correlates

This thesis, which finds itself within the field of clinical psychology, reunites the concept of schizotypy with the dimension of self, using a trait-state approach. According to phenomenologists, the dimension of self is at the core of the psychosis continuum, although absent from the definition of schizotypy in psychiatric classifications. This project investigates the concept of schizotypy and its link with anomalous self-experiences (ASEs), as well as their neurobiological underpinnings in the general population. Schizotypy constitutes a personality trait, distributed in the general population, which in its extreme expression can be considered as a personality-based risk factor for the development of psychosis. On the other hand, experiential anomalies of the self are expressed in terms of subtle phenomena observable at non-clinical levels in healthy individuals, as well as along the psychosis of clinical severity. Numerous studies have shown that ASEs are more frequent in individuals who develop disorders along the psychosis spectrum and within this project they will be experimentally induced to reproduce a state that resembles clinical symptoms observed in high-risk states. That is why the study, in the general population, of these two developing factors, as well as their potential interaction, can help further understand the emerging risk of psychosis.