Psychopathology and delusions: Reflections on methods and models.

Abstract

While I was serving as cochair of the National Research Council committee planning the 1995 survey of doctoral programs (Goldberger, Maher, & Flattau, 1995) a colleague (an astronomer) asked me to explain the meaning of a standard score, saying that he had never heard of it before. I explained it, and a look of benevolent understanding crossed his face: "Oh, I see. It's a statistical concept. We don't use statistics much in astronomy." He was, perhaps, exaggerating a little, but I suspect not.

Resolving the latent structure of schizophrenia endophenotypes using expectation-maximization-based finite mixture modeling.

“…Furthermore, this statistical approach holds considerable value as an objective means for parsing observed heterogeneity in multiple phenotypic indicators, whether assessed clinically or measured with laboratory technologies, in schizophrenia research. Heterogeneity in laboratory data has hobbled progress in schizophrenia research for decades (Maher, 2003), and only recently have effective methods been developed for the resolution of heterogeneity beyond simplistic subtyping schemes . Through effective parsing of the phenotypic space associated with schizophrenia, meaningful subgroups of individuals can be identified, and these classifications then may aid efforts seeking to link specific polymorphisms to behavioral or neurocognitive phenotypes in genomic research (e.g., Egan et al, 2001;Harrison & Owen, 2003;cf.…”

“…Both sustained attention and smooth pursuit eye movements are measured using objective laboratory technologies, and there are considerable methodological benefits in using such laboratorybased measures to tap endophenotypes (Gottesman & Gould, 2003). Many of these benefits accrue from the incorporation of the methods of the experimental psychology laboratory into studies designed to uncover disturbances in basic psychological processes in psychopathology (Lenzenweger & Hooley, 2003;Maher, 1966Maher, , 2003, and the scientific yield from the use of such methods in schizophrenia research has been considerable (Lenzenweger & Dworkin, 1998;Lenzenweger & Hooley, 2003). There are two major advantages to the use of endophenotypes that are assessed with objective laboratory methods.…”

Detecting Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder in the Community: An Ascertainment Strategy and Comparison With a Hospital Sample

“…A common, but often unstated assumption is that participants who meet diagnostic criteria for a particular disorder will tend to show a similar profile of symptoms, even if they are ascertained from different settings (see also Maher, 2003). However, this may or may not be the case, particularly in the case of personality disorders.…”

Aberrant Salience, Self-Concept Clarity, and Interview-Rated Psychotic-Like Experiences

“…Most theoretical models of PLEs can be characterized as social-cognitive models, in that they posit a role for the individual interacting with people in the environment to produce PLEs (e.g., Bell, Halligan, & Ellis, 2006; Freeman, 2007; Gray, 2014; Maher, 2003). Two common factors central to nearly all of these models are aberrant salience and self-relevant information processing (Bell et al, 2006; Cicero, Becker, Martin, Docherty, & Kerns, 2013; Freeman, 2007).…”