Aberrant bodily self in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia often experience aberrant bodily self including depersonalization and cenesthopathy, especially in its prodromal and early stage. These symptoms are regarded as the beginning of self-disturbances (i.e. the core psychopathology of the illness). Thus, an understanding of schizophrenic bodily experiences could provide insight into the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Recently, in the field of cognitive neuroscience, research on self-awareness during intentional actions has focused on examining sense of body ownership (SoO) and sense of agency (SoA). The most critical factor for the emergence of those higher-order senses of self is subject's intention for actions. Intentional signals could integrate multiple bodily sensory feedbacks during actions, and lead to develop a coherent sense of self. Empirical studies using behavioral and neuroimaging experiments have demonstrated that schizophrenic patients exhibit specific patterns of abnormal SoO and SoA. Thus, from a clinical standpoint, the detection of specific nature of schizophrenic bodily experiences could provide evidence for early diagnosis and intervention for schizophrenia.