MolPsy: Early Psychosis Disrupts Connectivity Between Distant Brain Regions

Scientists from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore have found that young people at clinically high risk for psychosis exhibit less efficient brain network function compared with healthy individuals. The results were published in Molecular Psychiatry (MolPsy).

The study drew on data from the international ENIGMA-CHR working group, covering more than 3,000 participants aged 9.5 to 39.9 years across 31 centers, including Singapore. Additional health data from at-risk youth were also analyzed. The researchers aimed to identify specific clinical, cognitive, and biological markers that precede the onset of psychosis.

Using network analysis, the brain was modeled as a system of interconnected nodes and pathways. Under normal conditions, such networks maintain a balance between dense local connections and efficient long-range communication: neighboring regions can redistribute processing load when minor disruptions occur, while distant regions exchange information in a few steps.

In high-risk individuals, this network architecture was disrupted: local information processing was less efficient, and integration between distant regions was impaired. Differences were especially pronounced in frontal and temporal areas and correlated with symptom severity and the timing of psychosis onset.

Even participants with minimal clinical symptoms already exhibited early network changes. According to the authors, this approach allows detection of subtle communication disruptions between brain regions that may precede psychotic symptoms. The researchers emphasize that psychosis is not a sudden event, but a gradual process.

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