Self-other control

When low self-other control is present, transcranial direct-current stimulation and imitation-inhibition training have been suggested as a potential way to augment it.

It has been linked to shifting attention towards relevant stimulus, comparing internal expectations with external occurrences, and facilitating a comprehensive, multi-sensory understanding of social situations.

On the other hand, excessive self-other control can also result in difficulties, from personal distress to paranoia, and potentially motor tics and compulsions.

The sustained experience of personal distress can become aversive, prompting individuals to diminish their empathic concern as they become increasingly focused on resolving their own internal emotional state.

When individuals struggle to create accurate representations of both themselves and others as separate entities and face challenges in shifting their attention between the two, they may fail to update their internal model and regulate their own emotional responses effectively.

[2] Failure to distinguish between self and others' representations can lead to the emergence of characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia, such as thought broadcasting, auditory verbal hallucinations, delusions of control, and echolalia.

Additionally, persecutory and reference delusions have been linked to deficiencies in self-other control, wherein individuals mistakenly attribute their own negative thoughts and emotions about themselves to others.

[4] Improving low self-other control levels is achievable through imitation-inhibition training, a specialized program aimed at assisting individuals in restraining their automatic imitative tendencies.

[4][5] Additionally, transcranial direct-current stimulation has been proposed as a potential method to augment self-other control in clinical populations.