• Aberrant salience predicts fluctuations of paranoia two weeks in advance during a 1-year experience sampling method study in people with psychosis 

      Luedtke, Thies; Moritz, Steffen; Westermann, Stefan; Pfuhl, Gerit (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2021-12-03)
      The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) has improved our understanding of psychosis considerably (Myin-Germeys et al., 2018). Not only has ESM shed light on the moment-to-moment variability of psychotic symptoms, it has equally helped to identify micro-level precursor variables that forecast symptom exacerbations a couple of hours in advance. Among others, established ESM-derived precursors are negative ...
    • Are psychotic experiences related to poorer reflective reasoning? 

      Mækelæ, Martin Jensen; Moritz, Steffen; Pfuhl, Gerit (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-02-12)
      <p><i>Background</i>: Cognitive biases play an important role in the formation and maintenance of delusions. These biases are indicators of a weak reflective mind, or reduced engaging in reflective and deliberate reasoning. In three experiments, we tested whether a bias to accept non-sense statements as profound, treat metaphorical statements as literal, and suppress intuitive responses is related ...
    • Evaluation of a brief unguided psychological online intervention for depression: A controlled trial including exploratory moderator analyses 

      Lüdtke, Thies; Pult, Lilian K.; Schneider, Brooke C.; Pfuhl, Gerit; Moritz, Steffen (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-06-28)
      <p><i>Background</i>: Psychological online interventions (POIs) reduce depression but we know little about factors influencing their effectiveness. We evaluated a new, brief POI for depression and conducted exploratory moderator analyses.</p> <p><i>Methods</i>: In this online trial (German Clinical Trials Register; DRKS00011045), we allocated participants to treatment as usual (TAU; n = 67) or ...
    • An internet-based intervention for people with psychosis (EviBaS): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial 

      Ruegg, Nina; Moritz, Steffen; Berger, Thomas; Lüdtke, Thies; Westermann, Stefan (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-04-13)
      <p><i>Background</i>: Evidence shows that internet-based self-help interventions are effective in reducing symptoms for a wide range of mental disorders. To date, online interventions treating psychotic disorders have been scarce, even though psychosis is among the most burdensome disorders worldwide. Furthermore, the implementation of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for psychosis in routine ...
    • Liberale akzeptanz als kognitiver mechanismus bei psychose: Eine 2-stufen-theorie der pathogenese schizophrener positivsymptome 

      Moritz, Steffen; Ludtke, Thies; Pfuhl, Gerit; Balzan, Ryan P; Andreou, Christina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2017-03-30)
      Positivsymptome wie Wahn und Halluzinationen stellen definierende Symptome einer (schizophrenen) Psychose dar. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit wird ein 2-stufiges heuristisches Modell für die Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung psychotischer Positivsymptome vorgelegt. Im Kern der Theorie steht die Hypothese, dass von Psychose betroffene Menschen eine erniedrigte Entscheidungsschwelle aufweisen, die zu ...
    • Mindfulness Mediates the Effect of a Psychological Online Intervention for Psychosis on Self-Reported Hallucinations: A Secondary Analysis of Voice Hearers From the EviBaS Trial 

      Lüdtke, Thies; Platow-Kohlschein, Heike; Rüegg, Nina; Berger, Thomas; Moritz, Steffen; Westermann, Stefan (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-04-03)
      <i>Background</i>: Psychological online interventions (POIs) could represent a promising approach to narrow the treatment gap in psychosis but it remains unclear whether improving mindfulness functions as a mechanism of change in POIs. For the present study, we examined if mindfulness mediates the effect of a comprehensive POI on distressing (auditory) hallucinations.<p> <p><i>Methods</i>: We ...
    • Objective Versus Subjective Effort in Schizophrenia 

      Kreis, Isabel Viola; Moritz, Steffen; Pfuhl, Gerit (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-07-09)
      <i>Background and Objectives</i>: Performance on cognitive tasks is often impaired in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ), possibly resulting from either cognitive deficits (e.g., limited working memory capacity) or diminished mental effort or both. Investment of mental effort itself can be affected by cognitive resources, task load, and motivational factors and has thus proven difficult to measure. ...
    • Post-psychotic depression: Paranoia and the damage done 

      Moritz, Steffen; Schmidt, Stefanie; Lüdtke, Thies; Braunschneider, Lea-Elena; Manske, Alisa; Schneider, Brooke C.; Veckenstedt, Ruth (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2019-07-20)
      To mitigate the often chronic course of schizophrenia and improve functional outcome, researchers are increasingly interested in prodromal states and psychological risk factors that may predict the outbreak of psychotic symptoms, but are also amenable to change. In recent years, depressive symptoms have been proposed as precursors of psychosis and some interventional studies indicate that the ...
    • Prolonged rather than hasty decision-making in schizophrenia using the box task. Must we rethink the jumping to conclusions account of paranoia? 

      Moritz, Steffen; Scheunemann, Jakob; Lüdtke, Thies; Westermann, Stefan; Pfuhl, Gerit; Balzan, Ryan P; Andreou, Christina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-06-05)
      Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is the best established cognitive bias in schizophrenia and is increasingly targeted in interventions aimed to improve positive symptoms. To address shortcomings of the standard measure to capture JTC, the beads task, we developed a new variant—the box task—which was subsequently validated in people with elevated psychotic-like experiences. For the first time, the box ...
    • A randomized controlled trial on a smartphone self-help application (Be Good to Yourself) to reduce depressive symptoms 

      Lüdtke, Thies; Pult, Lilian Klara; Schröder, Johanna; Moritz, Steffen; Bücker, Lara (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-08-29)
      Depressive symptoms are common, yet only a subgroup of individuals receive adequate treatment. To reduce the treatment gap, several online self-help programs have been developed, yielding small to moderate effects. We developed a smartphone self-help application addressing depressive symptoms. We sought to evaluate its feasibility and efficacy in participants reporting a subjective need for help (a ...
    • Seeing minds – a signal detection study of agency attribution along the autism-psychosis continuum 

      Lisøy, Rebekka Solvik; Biegler, Robert; Ebad Fardzadeh, Haghish; Veckenstedt, Ruth; Moritz, Steffen; Pfuhl, Gerit (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022-05-17)
      Introduction - Diametrically aberrant mentalising biases, namely hypermentalising in psychosis and hypomentalising in autism, are postulated by some theoretical models. To test this hypothesis, we measured psychotic-like experiences, autistic traits and mentalising biases in a visual chasing paradigm.<p> <p>Methods - Participants from the general population (N = 300) and psychotic patients (N=26) ...
    • Sleep problems and worrying precede psychotic symptoms during an online intervention for psychosis 

      Lüdtke, Thies; Pfuhl, Gerit; Moritz, Steffen; Ruegg, Nina; Berger, Thomas; Westermann, Stefan (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-12-10)
      <p><i>Objective - </i>Experience sampling assessments (multiple assessments per day for approximately one week) indicate that positive symptoms fluctuate over time in psychosis. Precursors, such as sleep problems or worrying, predict these fluctuations. To date, it remains unclear whether the same precursors predict symptom variability also during treatment in an online intervention for psychosis, ...
    • Spared performance but increased uncertainty in schizophrenia: Evidence from a probabilistic decision-making task 

      Kreis, Isabel Viola; Zhang, Lei; Moritz, Steffen; Pfuhl, Gerit (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2021)
      Aberrant attribution of salience to in fact little informative events might explain the emergence of positive symptoms in schizophrenia and has been linked to belief uncertainty. Uncertainty is thought to be encoded by neuromodulators, including norepinephrine. However, norepinephrinergic encoding of uncertainty, measured as task-related pupil dilation, has rarely been explored in schizophrenia. ...
    • A two-stage cognitive theory of the positive symptoms of psychosis. Highlighting the role of lowered decision thresholds 

      Moritz, Steffen; Pfuhl, Gerit; Luedtke, Thies; Menon, Mahesh; Balzan, Ryan P; Andreou, Christina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2016)
      <b>Objectives:</b> We outline a two-stage heuristic account for the pathogenesis of the positive symptoms of psychosis. <b>Methods:</b> A narrative review on the empirical evidence of the liberal acceptance (LA) account of positive symptoms is presented. <b>Hypothesis:</b> At the heart of our theory is the idea that psychosis is characterized by a lowered decision threshold, which results in ...