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

Table 1 Sensation/novelty seeking and psychopathology

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Main findings
Guillem et al[22]	52 schizophrenia outpatients 25 healthy subjects Alcohol/drug abuse was an exclusion criterion for controls	NS, TCI	Positive correlation between NS and the psychotic symptom dimension; lower NS scores in patients compared to controls
Boeker et al[23]	22 schizophrenia inpatients 22 healthy controls History of alcohol/drug abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	NS was found not to be related to psychopathology. No differences in patients and controls
Ritsner et al[24]	107 schizophrenia outpatients Substance abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TPQ	Increased NS was associated with poor insight
Guillem et al[25]	44 male schizophrenia outpatients 22 healthy controls Alcohol/substance abuse was an exclusion criterion in both groups	NS, TCI	Higher NS levels in patients affected executive function; patients scored lower than controls on NS
Cortés et al[26]	47 inpatients with schizophrenia or other non-organic psychoses 47 relatives 188 controls	NS, TCI-R	NS was found not to be related to psychopathology. Moderate difference in patients and controls
Poustka et al[27]	41 outpatients with schizophrenia and related psychoses	NS, TCI	Several traits but not NS were found to be related to symptomatology
Song et al[28]	33 first-episode schizophrenia patients 50 ultra high risk subjects 120 healthy controls	NS, TCI	NS was not correlated to symptomatology; there were no significant difference in NS between groups

NS: Novelty seeking; TPQ: Tridimensional personality questionnaire; TCI: Temperament and character inventory; TCI-R: TCI revised.

Table 2 Sensation/novelty seeking and alcohol/substance abuse

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Main findings
Van Ammers et al[29]	28 male schizophrenia patients, attending residential and outpatient rehabilitation programs	NS, TPQ	Significant correlation of NS with a history of alcohol/cannabis abuse
Liraud et al[30]	45 non-affective psychotic inpatients 58 inpatients with mood disorders	SS, SSS	High SS was associated with increased risk of substance abuse
Dervaux et al[31]	100 inpatients and outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, 41 with a lifetime history of alcohol/substance abuse	SS, SSS	Higher levels of SS were associated with substance abuse
Kim et al[32]	102 male schizophrenia outpatients 51 abusing	NS, TCI	Dual-diagnosis patients showed greater novelty seeking
Bizzarri et al[33]	47 abusing patients 61 non-abusing patients with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar disorder or psychotic depression	SS, SCI-SUBS	Abusing patients had higher SS scores
Dervaux et al[34]	46 male abusing schizophrenia patients 64 male non-abusing patients	SS, SSS	Higher SS scores in the abusing group
Dervaux et al[35]	34 abusing schizophrenia patients 66 non-abusing patients	SS, SSS	Higher mean scores on SS in patients with a lifetime history of abuse
Zhornitsky et al[36]	31 abusing schizophrenia patients 39 patients with substance abuse 23 non-abusing schizophrenia patients 25 healthy controls	SS, SSS	SS total score was significantly higher in abusing patients, irrespectively of the diagnosis of schizophrenia

SS: Sensation seeking; NS: Novelty seeking; SSS: Sensation Seeking scale; TPQ: Tridimensional personality questionnaire; TCI: Temperament and character inventory; SCI-SUBS: Structured clinical interview for the spectrum of substance use.

Table 3 Sensation/novelty seeking and quality of life

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Main findings
Hansson et al[37]	104 outpatients with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, or schizoaffective disorder	NS, TCI	Several personality dimensions, but not NS were correlated to subjective quality of life
Ritsner et al[38]	90 inpatients and outpatients with schizophrenia Drug/alcohol abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TPQ	Higher levels of NS were associated with better general quality of life
Kurs et al[39]	47 schizophrenia outpatients, 47 non-affected siblings 56 healthy subjects Drug/alcohol abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TPQ	Harm avoidance but not NS was associated with general quality of life. There were no differences in NS between patients, siblings and controls
Margetić et al[40]	120 schizophrenia outpatients 120 first degree relatives 129 healthy controls History of drug/alcohol dependence was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	Quality of life was not related to NS. Patients scored lower on NS compared to controls, and similar to relatives
Jetha et al[41]	41 outpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders 41 healthy controls	NS, TCI	NS was not related to any aspect of quality of life. Patients had significantly lower scores on NS than controls

NS: Novelty seeking; TPQ: Tridimensional personality questionnaire; TCI: Temperament and character inventory.

Table 4 Sensation/novelty seeking and medication adherence

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Main findings
Liraud et al[42]	45 inpatients with schizophrenia and related psychoses 58 inpatients with mood disorders	SS, SSS	SS was associated with poor medication adherence
Aukst Margetić et al[43]	76 schizophrenia outpatients Substance abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	NS was associated with medication non-adherence

SS: Sensation seeking; NS: Novelty seeking; SSS: Sensation Seeking scale; TCI: Temperament and character inventory.

Table 5 Sensation/novelty seeking and suicidality

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Main findings
Albayrak et al[44]	94 schizophrenia outpatients, 46 attempters History of drug/alcohol dependence was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	No association of NS with suicide attempts
Aukst Margetić et al[45]	120 schizophrenia outpatients, 29 with attempted suicide History of drug/alcohol dependence was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	No association of NS with suicidality and suicide attempts

NS: Novelty seeking; TCI: Temperament and character inventory.

Table 6 Sensation/novelty seeking and other illness dimensions

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Objective	Main findings
Herrán et al[46]	62 schizophrenia outpatients, 43 healthy subjects	NS, TPQ	Disability	Several personality traits, but not NS were associated with disability. There were no differences in NS between patients and controls
Fresán et al[47]	102 schizophrenia outpatients (61 violent) Current (the last 4 mo ) alcohol/substance abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	Aggressive/violent behavior	NS was a risk factor for violent behavior
Modestin et al[48]	64 inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders	NS, TPQ	Coping/recovery style in psychotic illness	No association with NS
Lejoyeux et al[49]	100 schizophrenia inpatients	SS, SSS	Aggressive/violent behavior	SS was not associated with patients’ aggressive behavior. Sub-scores on SSS were correlated to the OAS scores

SS: Sensation seeking; NS: Novelty seeking; SSS: Sensation Seeking scale; TPQ: Tridimensional personality questionnaire; TCI: Temperament and character inventory; OAS: Overt Aggression scale.

Table 7 Sensation/novelty seeking in psychotic patients and control groups

Ref.	n	Trait-instrument	Main findings
Szöke et al[50]	45 schizophrenia inpatients 126 controls	NS, TPQ	No differences in NS between groups
Ritsner et al[51]	90 schizophrenia outpatients 136 controls Drug/alcohol abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TPQ	No differences in NS between groups
Calvó de Padilla et al[52]	11 chronic untreated schizophrenia patients 11 first-degree relatives 12 controls	NS, TCI	No differences in NS between groups
Farhady et al[53]	69 schizophrenia inpatients 50 healthy controls	SS, SSS	Lower SS in patients
Hori et al[54]	86 schizophrenia patients 115 healthy controls Substance abuse during the past 6 mo was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	Lower NS in patients
Smith et al[55]	35 schizophrenia in- and outpatients 34 non-psychotic siblings 63 controls 56 controls’ siblings Current substance abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	No differences in NS between groups. No association of NS with psychopathology dimensions
Gonzalez-Torres et al[56]	61 inpatients with schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum disorders 59 first degree relatives 64 healthy controls Substance abuse was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	NS scores were not different in patients and controls; patients scored higher on NS than relatives
Ohi et al[57]	99 schizophrenia patients 179 controls Substance-related disorders were an exclusion criterion for patients	NS, TCI	Lower NS in patients
Sim et al[58]	48 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder 97 first-degree relatives 106 controls History of substance use was an exclusion criterion	NS, TCI	No differences in NS between groups
Miralles et al[59]	161 schizophrenia inpatients, 214 healthy controls	NS, TCI-R	No differences in NS between groups; in males the number of psychiatric admissions positively correlated with NS
Hori et al[60]	106 schizophrenia outpatients 247 healthy controls Substance use was an exclusion criterion for controls	NS, TCI	NS was found to be significantly lower in symptomatic (n = 72) but not in remitted patients

NS: Novelty seeking; TPQ: Tridimensional personality questionnaire; TCI: Temperament and character inventory; TCI-R: TCI revised; SSS: Sensation Seeking scale; SS: Sensation seeking.