Peripersonal space and schizophrenia: Looking for the self boundaries

Abstract

Introduction

Peripersonal space has been defined as the area immediately surrounding the body in which interactions with a person or an object can occur. Larger peripersonal space may reflect discomfort in close interpersonal situation or cognitive deficit. Individuals with schizophrenia are more sensitive to social stimulation. The capacity to provide accurate judgments of peripersonal space boundaries depend on the capacity to create an organized and structured mental representation that integrates signals from different sensory modalities and brain regions.

Objectives

We conducted a study on personal space in patients with schizophrenia using a paradigm that was not affected by emotional and social interference.

Aims

We aimed to investigate the characteristics of personal space in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

We recruited 20 schizophrenic patients according to DSM-V criterion and 20 healthy volunteers, matched by gender and age. Schizophrenic symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Participants performed the peripersonal space (PPS) task. Collected data underwent statistical analyses.

Results

Schizophrenic patients demonstrate a stronger/weaker need for personal space, than the comparison group, depending on the score of negative and positive symptom, as assessed by using the PANSS even without emotional and social interference.

Conclusions

Interpersonal interactions between the individual with schizophrenia and people in their immediate environment can lead to increased symptomatology. Social isolation is one of the most primary causes of poor quality of life in mental illnesses. Better understanding of the mechanisms for abnormal interactive behavior could provide significant valid guidelines for innovating intervention programs.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.