# Thought disorder and social cognition in clinical risk states for schizophrenia

> **NIH NIH R01** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2020 · $150,193

## Abstract

ABSTRACT: Administrative Supplements for NIMH Grants to Expand Suicide Research
 Suicide is among the top leading causes of death in the US; individuals with schizophrenia (Sz) have a
lifetime risk of more than tenfold that of the general population. Suicidal ideation and behavior (SIB) are
prevalent also in clinical risk states for schizophrenia, in teens and young adults at increased clinical high risk
(CHR) for Sz and related psychotic disorders, based on attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS). In CHR
cohorts, lifetime prevalence is ~77% for suicidal ideation and ~20% for suicidal behavior and attempts. Base
rates for suicide by death after ascertainment is ~1% within a few years. Despite the clear public health
problem of SIB in CHR teens and young adults, there is a clear gap in our understanding of their associated
mechanisms and neural substrates, and their demographic, symptom and clinical correlates. It is important to
gain a better understanding of SIB in CHR individuals in order to extend prevention efforts for CHR individuals
beyond prevention of psychosis and poor functional outcome to include suicide prevention as well.
 This proposal is an administrative supplement submitted in response to NOT-MH-19-026 Administrative
Supplements for NIMH Grants to Expand Suicide Research, for the parent R01 of “Thought disorder and social
cognition in clinical risk states for schizophrenia” (end 2021). It capitalizes on the parent R01's prospective
cohort that includes data across multiple levels of analysis, including behavior (language, social cognition,
symptoms) and circuits (brain structure and function), as well as data on SIB collected for purposes of safety,
using the PhenX toolkit measure of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Therefore, this
supplement does not entail the addition of any new measures. It is expected there will be data on 90 CHR, 25
Sz, and 25 healthy individuals by mid-2020 amenable for analysis (preliminary data now includes 30 CHR).
 This supplement adds a new specific aim relevant to suicide risk, namely to identify linguistic/cognitive
biomarkers, symptom/demographic correlates and neural substrates of C-SSRS SIB in CHR individuals using
advanced analytic methods, including natural language processing, machine learning, penalized regression,
and sparse modeling. The work proposed is within the scope of the parent R01 as it entails the application of
similar advanced analytic methods to the same dataset, to understand mechanisms of key clinical features in a
young at-risk cohort (parent R01: psychosis risk: supplement: suicide risk). It is hypothesized that SIB will be
associated in CHR individuals with greater use of words with negative emotional content and greater self-focus
in language (use of personal pronouns), social cognitive deficits, depression, motivational deficits, gray matter
reduction and abnormal resting connectivity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9941435
- **Project number:** 3R01MH107558-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** CHERYL MARY CORCORAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $150,193
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-12-19 → 2020-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9941435

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9941435, Thought disorder and social cognition in clinical risk states for schizophrenia (3R01MH107558-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9941435. Licensed CC0.

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