Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
echrhallucinations.bsky.social
Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
@echrhallucinations.bsky.social
This is the BlueSky account for the The Early Career Hallucination Research (ECHR) group. Find out more about us here - https://echr.group/
Pinned
Hello! The Early Career Hallucination Research (ECHR) group is linked to the @theichr.bsky.social and is led by Emma Palmer-Cooper (University of Southampton, UK) and Catherine Bortolon (University of Grenoble-Aples, Fr). Posts on here by @davidesmailes.bsky.social ...
Reposted by Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
Hey folks! We're running a big repliCATS workshop in Melbourne on 16 Dec, evaluating of replicability of published papers.

🐈 metascience, psych, med, health, education, sociol, quant methods, stats ECRs welcome
💰 AU$200
🎫 + travel subsidies
ℹ️ forms.gle/9JvoRBKCzYyY...

Re-posts appreciated 🌈
October 30, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Reposted by Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
** Recruiting a postdoc ** We are looking for a postdoc to work on emotion, mental health, and interoception, based in London at @ucl.ac.uk in my lab (Clinical and Affective Neuroscience). Part of a large Wellcome Grant (co-led with the brilliant @camillanord.bsky.social)
November 24, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Big (N = 1,262) paper from Brazil on some wekanesses of the PANSS - www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Chimes with the findings of this - www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl... - meta-analysis, if I understand it right.
COSMIN systematic review and meta-analysis of the measurement properties of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)
Although the PANSS is the standard scale for schizophrenia symptom severity, its shortcomings regarding fundamental psychometric domains and practical applicability warrant the development of new scal...
www.thelancet.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Secondary analysis of data from the Challenge AVATAR therapy RCT reports weak/not-quite-there links between treatment outcomes and characteristics of the avatar (how closely the avatar resembled the voice patientsexperienced and the subjective sense of presence in the virtual environment)...
November 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
New paper using data from the Danish National Birth Cohort examined longitudinal association sbetween psychotic experiences and hospital contact relating to suicidal behaviour.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41159624/

...
Psychotic Experiences and Risk of Suicidality in Adolescents: Examining the Impact of Auditory Hallucinations in Longitudinal Study From a Large Nationwide Birth Cohort - PubMed
This large longitudinal study documents that young people who report PE in pre-adolescent years, and especially auditory hallucinations with negative comments are associated with increased risk of suicidality in teenage years.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Two mind-blowing things from @retractionwatch.com First this: bsky.app/profile/retr...
November 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Bit off-topic (sort-of), but a great piece from Lizzie Gadd critiquing current systems of university-rankings: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
To reform universities, first tackle global rankings
Universities are in thrall to a rankings system that prioritizes narrow aspects of academic life. Three changes would give institutions the freedom to explore fresh ways of working.
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Important paper form last year reporting a network analysis of associations between trauma types and psychotic symptoms in participants from East Africa. Exposure to a war zone was directly related to presence of visual halluciations: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Relationships between trauma types and psychotic symptoms: A network analysis of patients with psychotic disorders in a large, multi-country study in East Africa
The link between trauma exposure and psychotic disorders is well-established. Further, specific types of trauma may be associated with specific psycho…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
The ICHR Special Supplement 2025 is out!

New in Schiz Bull, find work from six of our international working groups, ft. new reviews on sleep dysfunction, cog development, psychedelics, cross-cultural comparisons, & the bodily self, plus the iMAPS 2 Imagery RCT!

hallucinationconsortium.org
International Consortium on Hallucination Research
Visit the post for more.
hallucinationconsortium.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Last blog post by me on Open Research. This time on the value of not-for-profit/diamond open access publishers: echr.group/2025/11/05/w...
Why should I support not-for-profit publishers/diamond open access journals?
Traditional scientific publishing is a very lucrative business. For example, it has been reported that for-profit publishers (such as Elsevier, Springer-Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis) have pr…
echr.group
November 7, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Anotehr blog post from me re: open research. This time on pre-prints: echr.group/2025/10/31/w...

Not mentioned in that blog, but the folks @asapbio.bsky.social have a great resource on pre-printing here: asapbio.org/about/why-pr...
Why should I use pre-prints?
Traditional scientific publishing is slow and is often pay-walled. That is, there is normally a long delay between submitting your manuscript for publication and that manuscript being published (an…
echr.group
November 5, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Interesting paper reports that mental imagery plays a role in the onset of AVH by eliciting anxiety - doi.org/10.1093/schi...
Exploring the Working Mechanisms between Anxiety, Mental Imagery and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: A Longitudinal Study
AbstractBackground. Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVHs) are the most common hallucinations within the psychosis spectrum and are often accompanied by anx
doi.org
November 4, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
(Un)shared realities of psychosis treatment: An ethnographic study of (mis)alignment
between psychiatrists and patients experiencing psychosis...

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
(Un)shared realities of psychosis treatment: An ethnographic study of (mis)alignment between psychiatrists and patients experiencing psychosis
Delivering effective, compassionate psychiatric care that emphasizes meaningful exploration of patient perspectives remains a challenge for modern psy…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Yet another blog post from me on open research. this time about open sharing of data. Why we should do it, and why we sometimes can't - echr.group/2025/10/23/w... ...
Why should I share my data?
Open data refers to free, unrestricted, sharing of data collected for a study with everyone/anyone. For example, a researcher might post the study collected in their study on something like Figshar…
echr.group
October 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Pretty big (almost 200 patients) study on cognitive and neuro correlates of performance on a face pareidolia task in Lewy Body dementia: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Missed this last year - protocol for a meta-analysis of 'targeted' psychological intevrnetions for auditory hallucination in psychosis: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Targeted psychological and psychosocial interventions for auditory hallucinations in persons with psychotic disorders: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background In recent years, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) including positive symptoms such as...
journals.plos.org
October 22, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Interesting experience sampling paper from earlier this year on using passive physiological indices as predictors of the onset of hallucinations in patients' daily lives - doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725000881

Surprisingly high (at least to me) ability to predict onset from these measures.
Predicting experiences of paranoia and auditory verbal hallucinations in daily life with ambulatory sensor data – A feasibility study | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core
Predicting experiences of paranoia and auditory verbal hallucinations in daily life with ambulatory sensor data – A feasibility study - Volume 55
doi.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Another blog post by me - @davidesmailes.bsky.social - about open/resproducible research. This one about measurement practices - echr.group/2025/10/17/w... ...
Why should I focus on measurement?
In other posts, I have argued (based on what other, smarter people have said) that it is important for us to recruit larger samples, to pre-register hypothesis-driven work, and to openly share stud…
echr.group
October 20, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Study protocol for the study protocol for the Talking With Voices (TWV-II) trial published this week - link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Looking at the trial registry, recruitment ended in June, and so presumably just doing end-of-treatment/follow-up assessments now.
Multisite randomised controlled trial of a novel dialogical therapy in comparison to treatment as usual in adults with distressing and persistent auditory hallucinations: study protocol for the Talkin...
Background Hearing voices (“auditory hallucinations”) is associated with numerous negative outcomes, including hospitalisation, suicidality, and impaired functioning. Currently, the main treatment app...
link.springer.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Great preprint from @pavoorepic.bsky.social and colleagues showing that weaker performance on a self-other voice discrimination task is specifically associated with expericing hallucinations (data from 23 patients with AVH, 18 patients without AVH, and 40 controls ) www.medrxiv.org/content/medr...
www.medrxiv.org
October 15, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Early Career Hallucinations Research Group
ReplicationResearch.org is now open for submissions!

Submit replications and reproductions from many different fields, as well as conceptual contributions. With diamond OA, open and citable peer review reports, and reproducibility checks, we push the boundaries of open and fair publishing.
October 10, 2025 at 6:12 AM
ICHR special issue in Schizophrenia Bulletin released this month. Too many good papers to mention - academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
Volume 51 Issue Supplement_3 | Schizophrenia Bulletin | Oxford Academic
The flagship journal of the Schizophrenia Bulletin family. Reviews recent developments and empirically based hypotheses regarding the etiology and treatment of schizophrenia, ranging from the molecula...
academic.oup.com
October 9, 2025 at 10:32 AM
A great paper from last year (that I only recently discovered) on unusual sensory experinces in migraine. Lots of interesting detail here (e.g., re: olfactory hallucinations): link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Multisensory hallucinations and other unusual sensory experiences in the context of migraine: a systematic review - Journal of Neurology
Objective and background Visual auras in migraine have been extensively studied, but less is known about multisensory hallucinations or other unusual sensory experiences, including whether these should be diagnostically considered as part of aura symptoms. The current study aimed to conduct a systematic review and synthesis to bring together existing empirical evidence on these non-visual perceptual experiences, focusing on their phenomenological descriptions and clinical correlates. Methods Forty-eight relevant studies were included based on a systematic search across PsycINFO APA and Web of Science, for peer-reviewed publications in the English language, from 1980 to the present. These comprised a mix of case reports/series (n = 19) and group design studies (n = 29). Results Reports of complex multisensory hallucinations, beyond typical established aura symptoms, were numerous and varied in nature. Yet there were limited data on how this related to patient distress and functional interference. Other sensory distortions or hypersensitivities across non-visual domains were also evident, and generally more common in those with established aura symptoms. Conclusion Our findings provide preliminary evidence that multisensory hallucinations and other unusual perceptual experiences in migraine are likely more common than previously believed. Further investigations are needed to appropriately account for these symptoms within current nosological systems. Increased clinician–patient awareness is important for managing distress (where necessary), and potentially for offering a holistic therapeutic approach to migraine management.
link.springer.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Umbrella review from Cassie Hazell (a co-founder of ECHR!) and colleagues on what voices (AKA auditory verbal hallcuinations) say and how they say it (e.g., voice frequency, emotional tone, gender, and accent) - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
The Content and Topography of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Adult Psychosis Patients: What Does a Voice Say, and How Does It Say It? An Umbrella Review and Collation
Background Auditory verbal hallucinations (‘voices’) in clinical psychosis are associated with significant distress and disability, but the efficacy of CBT for voices is modest. Greater phenomenolog.....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Another post on the echr.group blog about using free-open-source software to (at least in part) aid reproducibility/replication effecorts. See echr.group/2025/10/03/w... ...
Why should I use free/open source materials/software?
As mentioned in another post, sharing the materials you have used to conduct a study can help others to replicate your work. Replication is important because it allows the research community test h…
echr.group
October 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM