When the term “schizophrenia” is enough to modify the way you interact with others: Evidence for a motor synchrony task

Abstract

Introduction

Most individuals with schizophrenia will be confronted with some forms of stigmatization. In recent years, the term “schizophrenia” has been increasingly contested by clinicians and family members and many of them argue for a change of name. Surprisingly, most of the research has been explored though self-reports but behavioural research is still lacking. The aim of our study was to assess through an experimental design if the term “schizophrenia” was enough to modify social behaviours.

Methods

Eleven participants from the community were asked to engage in three coordination tasks with a simple dot displayed on a screen and moved by another person. Participants had to synchronize their movements with either a schizophrenia patient, a patient with neuro-emotional integration disorder (NEID) or a healthy subject, situated in different rooms. Each condition was counterbalanced between participants. In reality, the movements of the dot were pre-recorded (five trajectories) and were therefore identical for all three conditions.

Results

Measuring the error between the displayed and performed trajectories, participants coordinate worse when they though interacting with a schizophrenia or NEID patient in comparison to the “healthy” (F(2.20) = 4.02; P = .034; n2P = 0.29) condition. Post-hoc analysis revealed an even higher difference between “schizophrenia” and “healthy” conditions (P = 0.01).

Conclusion

Our study is the first to demonstrate that the label “schizophrenia” directly impacts our behaviour, with negative consequences on social interactions. However, our results cannot confirm yet a positive effect induced by changing the name.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.