Subjective disturbances in emerging psychosis

Subjective disturbances in mental processes are the focus of the concept of basic symptoms (BSs), which provides a biopsychosocial model of psychosis, as well as the concept of self-disorders or self-disturbances (SDs) that aims at providing a comprehensive model of schizophrenia centered around the philosophical notion of “self.” Irrespective of the conceptual context, these subjective disturbances seem to aggregate in psychotic disorders, especially of the schizophrenia spectrum, and have been linked to several neurobiological aberrations. In particular, perceptual and cognitive BSs have been described and validated as psychosis-risk criteria that complement the ultrahigh risk criteria and might serve an earlier risk detection. Thus, both the psychosis-predictive value and the neurobiological foundation of these subjective disturbances make them valuable targets in early detection and etiological research.