SPECT neuroimaging in schizophrenia with religious delusions

Functional neuroimaging techniques such as single-positron emission compute d tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) offer considera ble scope for investigating disturbances of brain activity in psychiatric d isorders. However, the heterogeneous nature of disorders such as schizophre nia limits the value of studies that group patients under this global label . Some have addressed this problem by considering schizophrenia at a syndro mal level, but so far, few have focussed at the level of individual symptom s. We describe the first neuroimaging study of the specific symptom of reli gious delusions in schizophrenia. Tc-99m HMPAO high-resolution SPECT neuroi maging showed an association of religious delusions with left temporal over activation and reduced occipital uptake, particularly on the left. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.