Network Models in Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Nosographic Proposal

Introduction: In recent years, an interesting synergy has emerged between neuroscience and network science, offering a fresh perspective on the understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders. While psychotic symptoms can manifest across a wide range of pathologies, their diagnosis relies only on clinical presentation. In this context, the integration of network neuroscience holds promise in providing valuable tools to enhance accuracy when identifying and characterizing psychotic disorders. Methodology: To comprehensively investigate network models that provide insights into the development of psychotic symptoms from a transdiagnostic perspective, we carried out a systematic review using the PRISMA methodology. The review was conducted using different search strategies on the Pubmed database. Results: 24 articles were selected and summarized in the following sections: “Excitation-Inhibition Imbalance” with its two models, the “Triple Network Model” and the “Circular Belief Propagation Model”; the “Neurocomputational Model of Cortical Information Processing”; and “Social Cognition Network Model”. Conclusions: Four pathophysiological mechanisms are proposed for the development of psychosis: the “Excitation-Inhibition Imbalance”, the “Alteration of Self-other Distinction”, the “Failures in the Orthogonalization of Memories”, and the “Attributional Biases”. Based on this synthesis, the study aims to investigate the emergence of psychotic symptoms by examining the potential mechanisms involved.