MedWire News: People with psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia experience apathy and a lack of motivation even in the early stages of the disease, researchers have found.

Apathy and lack of motivation may result from an imbalance in brain chemistry among such patients, rather than being an effect of long-term treatment or institutionalisation, as previously suggested, say Dr Graham Murray, from the University of Cambridge in the UK, and colleagues.

Dr Murray and team studied 18 patients who had experienced their first psychotic episode and compared them with 19 patients without a history of mental health problems.

All the participants underwent computerised motivation tests in which they received rewards for completing tasks.

The researchers found that nearly all the participants without mental health problems reacted faster if the reward for completing the task was higher.

However, this effect occurred in just four of the patients who had experienced their first psychotic episode.

This suggests that patients with early psychosis have abnormalities in the way their brains process information regarding incentives for their actions.

"Patients with psychosis already have motivational deficits the first time they present to health services." said Dr Murray.

He concluded: "Understanding the brain basis of these problems will ultimately help in developing new treatments."

The research is published in the journal BMC Psychiatry.