Early psychosis shows deviations in scaling behaviour within a critical regime
Brain's scaling patterns shift subtly but measurably in early psychosis
The brain maintains its characteristic scale-free organization in early psychosis, but the specific mathematical patterns that describe how activity changes across different time scales are systematically altered. Using three complementary analysis methods on resting brain scans, researchers found that people with early psychosis show consistent shifts in these scaling properties compared to healthy controls—suggesting the underlying organization of brain activity is reorganized rather than broken.
Early psychosis is notoriously hard to diagnose reliably in its earliest stages, when intervention could make the biggest difference. A measurable shift in how the brain organizes itself across multiple time scales could eventually become a more objective marker of early psychosis, complementing clinical interviews and helping clinicians identify at-risk individuals sooner. The framework used here—combining multiple scaling measures—also provides psychiatry with a more robust toolkit for understanding whether other mental health conditions involve loss of critical dynamics or reorganization within them.