Neuroimaging of mental disorders Òscar Vilarroya

4.- Personality endophenotypes in schizophrenia: A neuroimaging study

Personality traits have been postulated as possible endophenotypes for schizophrenia. The exploration of temperament and character (according to the Cloninger Theories on Personality) in patients with schizophrenia and their family members, postulates the associability (high avoidance of pain and dependence on low reward), schizotypy (low level of self-direction, low co-operation and high sense of self-importance) as possible endophenotypes. The objective of the present study is to determine the personality traits of schizophrenic patients and their non-affected family members, compared to control groups without the disorder. The aim is to provide data that corroborate / reject the hypothesis that personality traits can be vulnerability markers (personality endophenotypes) in schizophrenia, showing alterations in schizophrenic patients and their family members who are not ill, unlike control groups without the disorder. A further aim is to establish a possible correlation between the findings of personality tests and structural and functional neuroimaging discoveries and with lesser neurological anomalies in patients with schizophrenia, compared to family members who are not ill and control groups without the disorder.