Fabrice Berna
Publications
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2.14Impact points
Distorted perception of the subjective temporal distance of autobiographical events in patients with schizophrenia.
Consciousness and cognition. 03/2012; 21(1):90-9.
Disturbances of perception of subjective time have been described in schizophrenia but have not been experimentally studied until now. We investigated how patients with schizophrenia estimate the subjective temporal distance (TD) of past personal events, i.e. how these events are perceived as subjec... [more] Disturbances of perception of subjective time have been described in schizophrenia but have not been experimentally studied until now. We investigated how patients with schizophrenia estimate the subjective temporal distance (TD) of past personal events, i.e. how these events are perceived as subjectively close or distant in time. Twenty-five patients with schizophrenia and 25 control participants recalled 24 autobiographical memories from four different life periods. They estimated the subjective TD and rated the amount of detail of each memory. Results showed that patients with schizophrenia had a distorted perception of subjective TD. Their memories were significantly less detailed than those of controls and, unlike control participants, the amount of memory detail was not significantly correlated with subjective TD. Poor access to memory detail may account for distortions of perception of subjective time in patients with schizophrenia.
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2.14Impact points
Self-images and related autobiographical memories in schizophrenia.
Consciousness and cognition. 03/2012; 21(1):247-57.
Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness, which affects sense of identity. While the ability to have a coherent vision of the self (i.e., self-images) relies partly on its reciprocal relationships with autobiographical memories, little is known about how memories ground "self-images" in sc... [more] Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness, which affects sense of identity. While the ability to have a coherent vision of the self (i.e., self-images) relies partly on its reciprocal relationships with autobiographical memories, little is known about how memories ground "self-images" in schizophrenia. Twenty-five patients with schizophrenia and 25 controls were asked to give six autobiographical memories related to four self-statements they considered essential for defining their identity. Results showed that patients' self-images were more passive than those of controls. Autobiographical memories underlying self-images were less thematically linked to these self-images in patients. We also found evidence of a weakened sense of self and a deficient organization of autobiographical memories grounding the self in schizophrenia. These abnormalities may account for the poor cohesiveness of the self in schizophrenia.
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2.34Impact points
History of abuse and neglect in patients with schizophrenia who have a history of violence.
Child abuse & neglect. 05/2011; 35(5):329-32.
To determine the prevalence of five forms of abuse/neglect during childhood and adolescence in a group of schizophrenic patients with a history of violence. Twenty-eight patients hospitalized in a highly secured psychiatric unit were included. Abuse and neglect during patients' growth were evalu... [more] To determine the prevalence of five forms of abuse/neglect during childhood and adolescence in a group of schizophrenic patients with a history of violence. Twenty-eight patients hospitalized in a highly secured psychiatric unit were included. Abuse and neglect during patients' growth were evaluated with the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ). History of substance abuse (consumption of cannabis, and/or alcohol, and/or heroin, and/or cocaine during the year that preceded the hospitalization), incarceration, and death of a close parent were also collected. We found that 46.4% of patients experienced at least 1 form of abuse and/or neglect during childhood and 21.4% of them had experienced more than 2 forms of abuse and/or neglect. The 2 most frequent forms of neglect and abuse were physical abuse (39.3%) and emotional neglect (17.9%). History of substance abuse was found for cannabis (57.1%), alcohol (57.1%), and cocaine and/or heroin (35.7%). We found that 42.8% of patients had 1 close relative who had died during their growth and that 41.6% of these deaths were violent. It appears important to systematically search for and assess a history of abuse and neglect during growth in schizophrenic patients with a history of violence, in order to offer specific treatments for this group of patients.
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2.37Impact points
Self-defining memories related to illness and their integration into the self in patients with schizophrenia.
Psychiatry research. 04/2011; 189(1):49-54.
Although schizophrenia alters the sense of personal identity, little is known about the impact of illness-related autobiographical events on patients' self-representation. We investigated self-defining memories (SDM) in 24 patients with schizophrenia and 24 controls to explore how illness-relate... [more] Although schizophrenia alters the sense of personal identity, little is known about the impact of illness-related autobiographical events on patients' self-representation. We investigated self-defining memories (SDM) in 24 patients with schizophrenia and 24 controls to explore how illness-related SDM were integrated into the self at both the cognitive (how participants are able to give a meaning to past events: meaning making) and affective levels (how participants can re-experience past negative events as less negative: redemption and benefaction effects). We found that 26% of freely recalled SDM referred to their illness in patients. Further, while meaning making was impaired in patients for both illness-related and other SDM, illness-related SDM were characterized by a higher redemption and benefaction effects than other SDM. Our results highlight that despite a reduced ability to give a meaning to illness-related episodes, emotional processing seems to allow these events to become positively integrated into patients' life stories. This study provides new findings about the construction of the self in relation to psychotic episodes in patients with schizophrenia. We discuss clinical implications of our results that are helpful to guide cognitive interventions.
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2.14Impact points
Impaired ability to give a meaning to personally significant events in patients with schizophrenia.
Consciousness and cognition. 04/2011; 20(3):703-11.
Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness affecting sense of identity. Autobiographical memory deficits observed in schizophrenia could contribute to this altered sense of identity. The ability to give a meaning to personally significant events (meaning making) is also critical for identity construct... [more] Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness affecting sense of identity. Autobiographical memory deficits observed in schizophrenia could contribute to this altered sense of identity. The ability to give a meaning to personally significant events (meaning making) is also critical for identity construction and self-coherence. Twenty-four patients with schizophrenia and 24 control participants were asked to recall five self-defining memories. We assessed meaning making in participants' narratives (spontaneous meaning making) and afterwards asked them explicitly to give a meaning to their memories (cued meaning making). We found that both spontaneous and cued meaning making were impaired in patients with schizophrenia. This impairment was correlated with executive dysfunctions and level of negative symptoms. Our results suggest that patients' difficulties in drawing lessons about past experiences could contribute to explain the lack of coherence observed in their life trajectories and their impaired social adjustment abilities. Implications for psychotherapy are also discussed.
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8.93Impact points
The organization of autobiographical memory in patients with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia research. 03/2011; 128(1-3):156-60.
Patients with schizophrenia exhibit a wide range of cognitive deficits, including autobiographical memory impairment. It has been suggested that there is a link between this impairment and a disorganization of autobiographical knowledge. This study aimed to explore both the elementary and conceptual... [more] Patients with schizophrenia exhibit a wide range of cognitive deficits, including autobiographical memory impairment. It has been suggested that there is a link between this impairment and a disorganization of autobiographical knowledge. This study aimed to explore both the elementary and conceptual organization of autobiographical memory in schizophrenia. We used an event-cueing procedure to obtain and compare ten chains of six inter-related autobiographical memories of eighteen patients with schizophrenia and seventeen control participants. Elementary organization, which relies on memories' basic characteristics, including sensory-perceptive, cognitive, affective and temporal ones, was assessed by calculating the degree of similarity of the memories' characteristics within chains. Cluster-type connectivity, a form of conceptual organization reflecting the ability to organize autobiographical information about sets of causally and thematically related events, was assessed by asking the participants to describe the type of relationship between cued and cueing autobiographical memories. Whereas in controls elementary organization of memories relied on sensory-perceptive and cognitive characteristics of the memories, in patients it was mostly based on the memories' emotional content. Temporal organization and conceptual organization appeared to be preserved in patients. Patients fail to use sensory-perceptive and cognitive characteristics of memories to organize autobiographical knowledge. Possibly to compensate for this, they rely more on the memories' emotional characteristics. Our results point towards an imbalance between emotional and non-emotional factors underlying the organization of autobiographical memory in schizophrenia.
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2.37Impact points
True and false autobiographical memories in schizophrenia: preliminary results of a diary study.
Psychiatry research. 08/2010; 179(1):1-5.
The frequency of true and false autobiographical memories and associated states of conscious awareness, i.e., conscious recollection and simply knowing, as well as the respective roles of affective and cognitive processes in autobiographical memory construction, were assessed in eight patients with ... [more] The frequency of true and false autobiographical memories and associated states of conscious awareness, i.e., conscious recollection and simply knowing, as well as the respective roles of affective and cognitive processes in autobiographical memory construction, were assessed in eight patients with schizophrenia and eight control participants. A diary study methodology was used in combination with the Remember/Know procedure. The results showed a higher frequency of Know responses associated with the retrieval of both true and false memories in patients than in control participants. Whereas control participants rated higher at retrieval than at encoding the distinctiveness and personal importance of events, as well as the extent to which events furthered current personal plans, patients exhibited an opposite pattern of ratings, with ratings being lower at retrieval than at encoding. These preliminary results show a high frequency of simply knowing associated with the retrieval of true and false autobiographical memories in patients with schizophrenia and provide evidence for the interest of the diary study methodology for studying autobiographical memory in schizophrenia.
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0.61Impact points
[Inaugural psychotic events in multiple sclerosis?]
Revue neurologique. 10/2009;
INTRODUCTION: Psychotic symptoms are not readily recognized in multiple sclerosis, especially at the beginning of the disease. METHODS: We report the cases of four patients who developed psychotic symptoms that led to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. We describe the psychiatric and neurological ... [more] INTRODUCTION: Psychotic symptoms are not readily recognized in multiple sclerosis, especially at the beginning of the disease. METHODS: We report the cases of four patients who developed psychotic symptoms that led to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. We describe the psychiatric and neurological features, MRI findings, clinical outcome and treatment. RESULTS: Two patients developed persecutory delusions, one presented a manic episode and the fourth melancholia with catatonia. Mean age was 39 years (range 20-49 years). Two patients had a personal history, but none a familial history of psychiatric disease. Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid revealed an oligoclonal pattern in all patients. All patients fulfilled Barkhof's MRI criteria. Three have had brain MRI with injection during psychotic symptoms. In these three cases, a frontal lesion appeared. The patient with catatonia also had a new lesion in the cerebellum and in the brainstem. All patients needed a "psychiatric" treatment, including antipsychotics. The psychiatric event lasted three months for two patients and the two others experienced relapse. CONCLUSION: Acute psychiatric symptom may reveal multiple sclerosis at the beginning of the disease. Frontal lobe localization is suggested. We propose that a psychotic event may correspond to a multiple sclerosis event.
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2.29Impact points
Functional mechanisms of episodic memory impairment in schizophrenia.
Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie. 12/2007; 52(11):693-701.
OBJECTIVE: To achieve a better understanding of the functional mechanisms underlying episodic memory dysfunction in schizophrenia, which is a prerequisite for unravelling schizophrenia's neural correlates in neuroimaging studies and, more generally, for developing an integrated approach to the p... [more] OBJECTIVE: To achieve a better understanding of the functional mechanisms underlying episodic memory dysfunction in schizophrenia, which is a prerequisite for unravelling schizophrenia's neural correlates in neuroimaging studies and, more generally, for developing an integrated approach to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. It is also crucial for developing cognitive remediation. METHOD: This paper reviews empirical evidence of episodic memory dysfunction in schizophrenia obtained with reference to various theoretical models of episodic memory. RESULTS: All the studies converge to show a significant impairment of the critical feature of episodic memory: conscious recollection. Schizophrenia is also associated with a defect of autobiographical memory. The episodic memory dysfunction results from a predominant failure of strategic processing at encoding, although an impairment of strategic processing at retrieval cannot be ruled out. The possibility that it is not the execution of the encoding strategies that is defective but, rather, their self-initiation by the patients is plausible. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may explain some behavioural abnormalities associated with schizophrenia, notably, inadequate functional outcomes in everyday life. They may also have implications for cognitive remediation and better social and work functioning of patients with schizophrenia.
