Sensation/novelty seeking in psychotic disorders: A review of the literature

Abstract

The evaluation of personality traits is important for the better understanding of the person suffering from psychosis and for treatment individualization. However literature on patients' personality and character in such disorders is limited. The aim of this review was to summarize the literature on sensation/novelty seeking (SNS), a trait which is biologically based and highly heritable and is associated with dopamine activity, and refers to a person's tendency to seek varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences. A total of 38 studies were included in this review, involving 2808 patients and 2039 healthy controls. There is consistent evidence that this trait is independently associated with alcohol and substance abuse in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders. The estimation of SNS would help clinicians to identify patients at risk for abuse. There is also some evidence that higher SNS levels may relate to medication non-adherence and seem to increase the risk of patients' aggressive and violent behavior, but studies are scarce. SNS was found not to be related to suicidality, whereas in the fields of patients' quality of life and psychopathology results are contradictory, but most studies show no possible association. Several studies suggest that SNS is lower in psychotic patients compared to controls, whereas most yield no differences. The evidence for this trait as a potential endophenotype of schizophrenia is weak. SNS may be implicated in psychotic disorders' course and prognosis in several ways and should be always inquired for. This trait can be reliably measured with the use of easily applicable self-rated instruments, and patients' accounts could inform clinicians when planning management and delivering individualized treatment. Core tip: This review summarizes current research on the personality trait sensation/novelty seeking (SNS) in psychotic disorders. There is an emerging literature on SNS in psychotic patients, suggesting that this trait is associated with patients' alcohol and substance misuse. Some evidence suggests that SNS may be related to medication non-adherence and aggressive behavior, whereas data on other illness dimensions, such as quality of life and psychopathology are scarce and controversial. In general, patients with psychotic disorders appear to have lower SNS levels than healthy controls, but abusing patients, who probably have high SNS levels are often excluded from research. REVIEWSubmit a

EFhd2/Swiprosin-1 is a common genetic determinator for sensation-seeking/low anxiety and alcohol addiction

“…These include enhanced sensation-seeking and low levels of trait anxiety. 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 Here we asked whether lack of EFhd2 function would result in a behavioural phenotype predictive for enhanced risk of alcohol addiction. A new group of animals was tested in the open-field test for novelty/sensation-seeking and anxiety-related behaviour.…”

Cognitive Dysfunction, Affective States, and Vulnerability to Nicotine Addiction: A Multifactorial Perspective

“…Novelty or sensation seeking can be defined as a heritable tendency to seek out varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and emotional experiences and to show enhanced behavioral responses to novel situations ( 69 – 73 ). It is one of the most critical individual difference factors predicting drug use among humans ( 74 , 75 ).…”

Paranoia and risk of personality disorder in the general population

“…Thus, brain DRD2 receptor density has been negatively correlated to personality traits as novelty seeking, impulsivity or harm avoidance 21 and parallelly the dopamine metabolism, especially the DRD2 receptor has been implied in schizophrenia. 22 Novelty seeking is also a well-known common personality trait to both paranoia 20 and BPD 23 and is associated to genetic variability in dopamine receptors 24 that are also altered in paranoia and BPD. 25 This study sets out to explore, in a large and representative sample of the general population, the dimensionally measured association between paranoia and PD (both any PD and BPD).…”