How Dreams and Tech Help Spot Mental Health Issues

People with psychosis often struggle to organize their thoughts and words. This can make it hard for them to communicate clearly. Traditionally, doctors have used interviews and questionnaires to measure this. But now, there's a new way to look at it: using computers to analyze language. Researchers studied dream reports from 193 Italian speakers. Some had psychosis, and others were healthy. They found that people with psychosis had more disjointed language patterns. Their words were less connected, like a jumbled puzzle. This was true even when they controlled for education levels. The study used something called graph theory. It's a math tool that maps out connections between things. In this case, it mapped out how words link together in speech. People with psychosis had smaller and weaker connections in their word maps. This suggests their thoughts might not flow as smoothly. The researchers also used a computer program to classify the dream reports. It correctly identified psychosis 68% of the time. That's not perfect, but it's a start. This shows that computers might one day help doctors spot mental health issues. This is the first study to use this method with Italian speakers. It adds to growing evidence that language analysis can help understand psychosis. It's a fresh way to look at how people think and talk when they're unwell.