Year
2019
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
School of Psychology
Abstract
Schizotypy is a personality trait present in the general population which represents the psychosis continuum. Schizotypy is a potential vulnerability for transition towards frank illness. The same risk factors which are known to exacerbate symptoms in schizophrenia are suggested to also operate at non-clinical levels such as in those with schizotypy. Not all those who express schizotypy will devolve into illness, and at present there is a gap in the understanding of factors which may differentiate individuals who will decompensate and those will remain highly schizotypal but will not experience clinical psychosis. We thus sought to investigate factors involved in the psychosis continuum which may provide insight into points of differentiation or targets for intervention and to contribute to the currently inconsistent literature regarding correlates of schizotypy. Both stress and cognitive impairments have been implicated at all stages of the psychosis continuum. As such an aim of the present thesis was to understand the nature of stress and cognitive deficits in the context of schizotypy. To begin we undertook a systematic review to clarify the current understanding of stress along the psychosis continuum and to provide stress targets for further investigation within the thesis.
Recommended Citation
Walter, Emma Elizabeth, Schizotypy, Stress and Cognition, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, 2019. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/642
Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.