Advisor(s)
Adrienne Lahti
Committee Member(s)
Edwin Cook Iii
Jarred Younger
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Document Type
Thesis
Department (new version)
Psychology
Date of Award
9-11-2025
Abstract
Meta-analyses have found a consistent link between a longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and worse clinical outcomes but the specific pathophysiological processes from a neurobiological level remains unclear. The current study sought to determine the effects of DUP on functional connectivity measured with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and evaluated brain network FC as potential mediators in the relationship between DUP and treatment response following antipsychotic drug (APD) treatment. One hundred medication-naïve first- episode psychosis patients underwent a resting state fMRI scan. Signal from brain regions of interest from posterior cingulate (default mode network), anterior cingulate (salience network), and right posterior parietal cortex (central executive network) was extracted and correlated with the rest of the brain. Findings indicated that longer DUP was associated with reduced functional connectivity in all networks of interest. Further, we found that functional connectivity of the central executive and salience networks mediated the relationship between DUP and treatment response. These results suggest that there are pathophysiological processes inherent in the DUP. Our data emphasize the importance of early intervention targeting DUP’s adverse effects on the brain. Keywords: first-episode psychosis, duration of untreated psychosis, triple network model, antipsychotic-naïve
ProQuest ID
Recommended Citation
Patton, Hillary, "Duration Of Untreated Psychosis (Dup), Treatment Response, And Resting State Functional Connectivity In Antipsychotic-Naïve First-Episode Psychosis Patients" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 7342.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7342
