Schizotypy--do not worry, it is not all worrisome

• Published in: Schizophrenia bulletin 2015-03, Vol.41 Suppl 2 (suppl 2), p.S436-S443
• Main Authors: Mohr, Christine, Claridge, Gordon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Creativity; Humans; Personal Satisfaction; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - psychology; Supplement; Thinking - physiology
• ISSN: 0586-7614; 1745-1701
• DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbu185

A long-standing tradition in personality research in psychology, and nowadays increasingly in psychiatry, is that psychotic and psychotic-like thoughts are considered common experiences in the general population. Given their widespread occurrence, such experiences cannot merely reflect pathological functioning. Moreover, reflecting the multi-dimensionality of schizotypy, some dimensions might be informative for healthy functioning while others less so. Here, we explored these possibilities by reviewing research that links schizotypy to favorable functioning such as subjective wellbeing, cognitive functioning (major focus on creativity), and personality correlates. This research highlights the existence of healthy people with psychotic-like traits who mainly experience positive schizotypy (but also affective features mapping onto bipolar disorder). These individuals seem to benefit from a healthy way to organize their thoughts and experiences, that is, they employ an adaptive cognitive framework to explain and integrate their unusual experiences. We conclude that, instead of focusing only on the pathological, future studies should explore the behavioral, genetic, imaging, and psychopharmacological correlates that define the healthy expression of psychotic-like traits. Such studies would inform on protective or compensatory mechanisms of psychosis-risk and could usefully inform us on the evolutionary advantages of the psychosis dimension.