Loss of time-organized sympathetic skin responses in acute psychosis

The aim of this study was to differentiate the response pattern characteris tics of sympathetic skin responses (SSR) between un-medicated first psychot ic subjects and healthy controls. We recorded SSR to novel auditory stimuli in 13 psychotic subjects and in 19 controls. There was no constant delay b etween a sudden change in the acoustic surroundings and SSR in psychotic su bjects, whereas regularly this delay was 1.3 to 1.8 seconds in controls. Th e validity of the test was evaluated by blind rating responses to two categ ories. The lack of a regular time delay between a novel auditory stimulus a nd SSR suggests a timing disturbance in the neural networks regulating the autonomic nervous system responses in acute psychosis. Our finding and meth od may have future implications in evaluation of subtle autonomic nervous s ystem alterations related, e.g., to drug effects.