Individuals who report psychotic-like experiences are at increased risk of future clinical psychotic disorder. They constitute a unique "high-risk" group for studying the developmental trajectory to schizophrenia and related illnesses. Previous research has used screening instruments to identify this high-risk group, but the validity of these instruments has not yet been established. We administered a screening questionnaire with 7 items designed to assess psychotic-like experiences to 334 adolescents aged 11-13 years. Detailed clinical interviews were subsequently carried out with a sample of these adolescents. We calculated sensitivity and specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for each screening question for the specific symptom it enquired about and also in relation to any psychotic-like experience. The predictive power varied substantially between items, with the question on auditory hallucinations ("Have you ever heard voices or sounds that no one else can hear?") providing the best predictive power. For interview-verified auditory hallucinations specifically, this question had a PPV of 71.4% and an NPV of 90.4%. When assessed for its predictive power for any psychotic-like experience (including, but not limited to, auditory hallucinations), it provided a PPV of 100% and an NPV of 88.4%. Two further questions-relating to visual hallucinations and paranoid thoughts-also demonstrated good predictive power for psychotic-like experiences. Our results suggest that it may be possible to screen the general adolescent population for psychotic-like experiences with a high degree of accuracy using a short self-report questionnaire.

While a great deal of research has been conducted on prodromal risk syndromes in relation to help-seeking individuals who present to the clinic, there is a lack of research on prodromal risk syndromes in the general population. The current study aimed first to establish whether prodromal risk syndromes could be detected in non-help-seeking community-based adolescents and secondly to characterize this group in terms of Axis-1 psychopathology and general functioning. We conducted in-depth clinical interviews with a population sample of 212 school-going adolescents in order to assess for prodromal risk syndromes, Axis-1 psychopathology, and global (social/occupational) functioning. Between 0.9% and 8% of the community sample met criteria for a risk syndrome, depending on varying disability criteria. The risk syndrome group had a higher prevalence of co-occurring nonpsychotic Axis-1 psychiatric disorders (OR 5 4.77, 95% CI 5 1.81-12.52; P < .01) and poorer global functioning (F 5 24.5, df 5 1, P < .0001) compared with controls. Individuals in the community who fulfill criteria for prodromal risk syndromes demonstrate strong similarities with clinically presenting risk syndrome patients not just in terms of psychotic symptom criteria but also in terms of co-occurring psychopathology and global functioning.

BackgroundRecent community-based research has suggested that psychotic experiences act as markers of severity of psychopathology. There has, however, been a lack of clinic-based research. We wished to investigate, in a clinical sample of adolescents referred to a state-funded mental health service, the prevalence of (attenuated or frank) psychotic experiences and the relationship with (i) affective, anxiety and behavioural disorders, (ii) multimorbid psychopathology, (iii) global functioning, and (iv) suicidal behaviour.MethodThe investigation was a clinical case–clinical control study using semi-structured research diagnostic psychiatric assessments in 108 patients newly referred to state adolescent mental health services.ResultsPsychotic experiences were prevalent in a wide range of (non-psychotic) disorders but were strong markers of risk in particular for multimorbid psychopathology (Z = 3.44, p = 0.001). Young people with psychopathology who reported psychotic experiences demonstrated significantly poorer socio-occupational functioning than young people with psychopathology who did not report psychotic experiences, which was not explained by multimorbidity. Psychotic experiences were strong markers of risk for suicidal behaviour. Stratified analyses showed that there was a greatly increased odds of suicide attempts in patients with a major depressive disorder [odds ratio (OR) 8.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.59–49.83], anxiety disorder (OR 15.4, 95% CI 1.85–127.94) or behavioural disorder (OR 3.13, 95% CI 1.11–8.79) who also had psychotic experiences compared with patients who did not report psychotic experiences.ConclusionsPsychotic experiences (attenuated or frank) are an important but under-recognized marker of risk for severe psychopathology, including multimorbidity, poor functioning and suicidal behaviour in young people who present to mental health services.

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Adolescents in the community who fulfil criteria for prodromal syndromes demonstrate deficits on a number of neurocognitive tasks. Deficits are particularly pronounced in symbol coding performance, supporting processing speed as a central deficit associated with psychosis risk.

BackgroundPsychotic symptoms in the context of psychiatric disorders are associated with poor functional outcomes. Environmental stressors are important in the development of psychosis; however, distress may only be pathogenic when it exceeds an individual’s ability to cope with it. Therefore, one interesting factor regarding poor functional outcomes in patients with psychotic symptoms may be poor coping. This paper aimed to address the question whether 1) psychotic symptoms are associated with poorer functioning and 2) whether poor coping moderated the association.MethodsIn a clinical case-clinical control study of 106 newly-referred adolescent patients with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders, coping was investigated using the Adolescents Coping Scale. Severity of impairment in socio-occupational functioning was assessed with the Children’s Global Assessment Scale.ResultsPatients with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders and additional psychotic symptoms (N = 50) had poorer functioning and were more likely to use avoidance-oriented coping compared to patients with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders without psychotic symptoms (N = 56). No differences were found with respect to approach-oriented coping. When stratifying for poor/good coping, only those adolescent patients with psychotic symptoms who applied poor coping (i.e. less use of approach-oriented coping styles [OR 0.24, p < 0.015] and more use of avoidance-oriented coping [OR 0.23, p < 0.034]) had poorer functioning. However, these interactions were not significant.ConclusionsNon-adaptive coping and poorer functioning were more often present in adolescents with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders and additional psychotic symptoms. Due to small subgroups, our analyses could not give definitive conclusions about the question whether coping moderated the association between psychotic symptoms and functioning. Improvement of coping skills may form an important target for intervention that may contribute to better clinical and functional outcomes in patients with psychotic symptoms.

Telepsychiatry can deliver effective carer education programmes about schizophrenia and may provide one solution to bridging the chasm between scientific evidence and clinical reality.

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