Agency in schizophrenia and autism: a systematic review

Denise P W Tan; Olivia Carter; Darcy-Rose Marshall; Kelsey Perrykkad

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1280622

Agency in schizophrenia and autism: a systematic review

Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 21:14:1280622. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1280622. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Denise P W Tan¹, Olivia Carter¹, Darcy-Rose Marshall¹, Kelsey Perrykkad^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
³ Centre for Women's and Children's Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research suggests that altered experiences of agency are an underlying vulnerability in both schizophrenia and autism. Here, we explore agency as a potential transdiagnostic factor by conducting a systematic review of existing literature investigating agency in autism and schizophrenia individually and together.

Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted three systematic searches on PsycINFO, Embase, Medline, PubMed and Web of Science to identify studies that investigated (1) agency in schizophrenia, (2) agency in autism, and (3) agency in both schizophrenia and autism.

Results: A total of 31 articles met eligibility criteria for inclusion and data extraction, with 24 measuring agency in schizophrenia, 7 investigating agency in autism, and no articles comparing the two. Results show that, compared to control populations, agency is significantly different in every identified schizophrenia study and generally not significantly different in autism.

Discussion: Importantly, we identified a lack of studies using common tasks and a disproportionate number of studies investigating different dimensions of agency across the two conditions, resulting in limited grounds for valid comparison.

Systematic review registration: Prospero, CRD42021273373.

Keywords: autism; judgment of agency; schizophrenia; sense of agency; transdiagnostic.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.