The ‘Parma‐Early Psychosis’ programme: Characterization of help‐seekers with first episode psychosis

Abstract

Aim Research on early psychosis paradigm has demonstrated the importance of early intervention (EI) in reducing illness severity and persistence. From January 2013, the Parma Department of Mental Health developed a specific care pathway [the ‘Parma‐Early Psychosis’ (Pr‐EP) programme] as a diffused EI infrastructure aimed to offer an evidence‐based protocol of care to help‐seekers with a first episode psychosis (FEP). Aim of this study was to investigate sources of referral, drop‐out rate, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients enrolled in the Pr‐EP programme during the first 6 years of activity. Methods Participants (n = 279) were individuals (aged 12‐54 years) completing an ad‐hoc socio‐demographic/clinical schedule. Results At baseline, the most frequent diagnoses were schizophreniform disorder (30.5%) and schizophrenia (29.4%). Only 31 (11.1%) subjects dropped out during the first year of treatment. FEP participants were mainly referred by general practitioners (36.9%) and emergency room/general hospital (28.7%). FEP individuals who were referred by emergency room/general hospital showed a higher percentage of current suicidal ideation compared to those entering the Pr‐EP protocol through other sources of referrals. Conclusions EI in FEP help‐seekers within Italian public mental health services is feasible and desirable, also in adolescence, where the risk of falling through the child‐adult service gap is high.

Assessing aberrant salience in young community help‐seekers with early psychosis: The approved Italian version of the Aberrant Salience Inventory

“…Since the early description of classical European psychopathology, it is now well known that the prodromal phase of primary delusion (i.e., the time period characterized by early psychopathological features that indicates the onset of a psychosis before more diagnostically defined psychotic symptoms; Landi et al, 2020) is often marked by an impending feeling of meaning that moves from the experiential background, which, previously tacit and familiar, starts to be filled with self‐referential and disturbingly salient details, although not yet articulated (e.g., persecutory threats; Conrad, 1959). With the psychotic transformation of experience, the perceptual background subsequently becomes more intrusive and saturated, with meaningful details that accelerate and trigger the development of abnormal significance attribution (Howkes, 2012).…”

Personal health budget in patients with first episode psychosis: A new rehabilitation model based on a community care system in Italy

“…According to Yung et al (2005), the psychosis threshold was defined as full‐blown positive symptoms occurring for > 1 week (either daily or > 3 times a week) with each symptom lasting for > 1 h on each occasion. A DUP of < 2 years was also selected because it is the usual limit to start specific interventions within the EIP paradigm (Landi et al, 2020).…”

Examining disorganization in patients with first episode psychosis: Findings from a 1‐year follow‐up of the ‘Parma early psychosis’ program

“…Our psychopathological evaluation included the PANSS (Kay et al, 1987) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale (APA, 2000), which were administered both at baseline and after the 1‐year follow‐up period. At the initial assessment, an ‘ ad‐hoc sociodemographic and clinical chart ’ (also collecting information on DUP, current substance misuse, hospitalization and past specialist contact) was also completed (Landi et al, 2020).…”