"Feeling your self when yourself is altered"

The current criteria and diagnosis, of psychiatric conditions is based on symptoms rather than biological mechanisms. Science is trying to move forward towards a mechanism-based classification, which would likely improve patient care and treatment. It has been suggested that people with schizophrenia (SZ) may have altered self-other distinction. For this reason, these patients might be able to produce self-ticklish sensations which is unusual in neurotypicals. A disturbance of these processes can have far-reaching consequences for the establishment of an adequate bodily self-perception which may lead also to alterations in allostasis and in higher order cognitive domains. Therefore, we aim to study self-perception and body awareness in SZ. In the long run, the results may enable the development of new treatment strategies.