The moderating effect of cognitive impairment on the relationship between inner speech and auditory verbal hallucinations among chronic patients with schizophrenia

BMC Psychiatry

Research

Daniella Mahfoud¹  Chadia Haddad²  Souheil Hallit³  Georges Haddad⁴  Feten Fekih-Romdhane⁵ 

[1] Faculty of Science, Lebanese University, Fanar, Lebanon;Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon;INSPECT-LB (Institut National de Santé Publique, d’Épidémiologie Clinique Et de Toxicologie-Liban), Beirut, Lebanon;School of Health Sciences, Modern University for Business and Science, Beirut, Lebanon;School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, P.O. Box 446, Jounieh, Lebanon;Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan;Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon;School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, P.O. Box 446, Jounieh, Lebanon;Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon;The Tunisian Center of Early Intervention in Psychosis, Department of Psychiatry “Ibn Omrane”, Razi Hospital, 2010, Manouba, Tunisia;Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia;

关键词: Inner speech;    Schizophrenia;    Positive symptoms;    Auditory verbal hallucinations;    Cognitive impairment;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-023-04940-4

 received in 2023-03-03, accepted in 2023-06-08,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEven though there is an increasing amount of evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging studies to suggest that pathological inner speech plays a role in the emergence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), studies investigating the mechanisms underlying this relationship are rather scarce. Examining moderators might inform the development of new treatment options for AVH. We sought to extend the existing knowledge by testing the moderating role of cognitive impairment in the association between inner speech and hallucinations in a sample of Lebanese patients with schizophrenia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from May till August 2022, enrolling 189 chronic patients.ResultsModeration analysis revealed that, after controlling for delusions, the interaction of experiencing voices of other people in inner speech by cognitive performance was significantly associated with AVH. In people having low (Beta = 0.69; t = 5.048; p < .001) and moderate (Beta = 0.45; t = 4.096; p < .001) cognitive performance, the presence of voices of other people in inner speech was significantly associated with more hallucinations. This association was not significant in patients with high cognitive function (Beta = 0.21; t = 1.417; p = .158).ConclusionThis preliminarily study suggests that interventions aiming at improving cognitive performance may also have a beneficial effect in reducing hallucinations in schizophrenia.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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