ABSTRACT
Background and Hypothesis: When occurring in adolescence, psychotic experiences (PE), subclinical psychotic symptoms, can be an early marker of mental illnesses. Studies with high-risk populations for psychosis show that anxiety symptoms often precede the onset of psychosis. Although anxiety symptoms are frequently experienced across the continuum of psychosis, no previous study has analyzed this association using a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) longitudinally to identify if anxiety can be a predictor of PE over time or vice versa. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether one symptom domain predicts the other over time. Study Design: 2194 children from the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort (BHRC) were evaluated at baseline (T 0), and 76.5% completed a 3-year follow-up (T 1) interview. Childhood anxiety symptoms and PE were assessed using a standardized self-report questionnaire at both time points. Cross-lagged panel models evaluated time-lagged associations between PE and anxiety longitudinally. Study Results: Higher levels of anxiety in childhood predicted an increase in PE levels in adolescence. The cross-lagged effect of anxiety scores at T 0 on PE scores at T 1 was significant (ßâ =â .03, SEâ =â 0.01, P ≤ .001) and PE in childhood did not increase levels of anxiety in adolescence, when controlling for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Conclusions: Our findings reinforce that anxiety may represent an early marker of psychosis proneness, not a consequence of already presenting PE, which can help to develop better screening approaches. Therefore, future studies should focus on identifying biological or other clinical markers to increase prediction accuracy.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Psychotic experiences in childhood (such as hearing voices or being suspicious) represent an important phenotype for early intervention. However, these experiences can be defined in several ways: self-reported psychotic experiences (SRPE) rely exclusively on the child's report, clinically validated psychotic experiences (CRPE) are based on clinical assessment, and attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) represents a categorization to do with clinical relevance in relation to severity. Very few studies have investigated how these distinctions impact clinical and other domains. The present study aims to compare SRPE, CRPE, and APS among children and adolescents. Methods: This study is part of the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort Study for Psychiatric Disorders, in which 2,241 individuals aged 6-14 years provided self-ratings of 20 psychotic experiences using the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE). A trained psychologist conducted an interview to validate or reject reported experiences and to rate the presence of APS and affective flattening. In parallel, parents provided information about child mental health to an independent interviewer. We tested the association of mutually exclusive categories of non-validated SRPE (nSRPE), clinically validated PE below the threshold for APS (nCRPE), and APS (nSRPE = 33%, nCRPE = 11%, APS = 6%), with parents' information about the child's positive attributes and levels of psychopathology and psychologist assessment of blunted affect. Results: Most associations were qualitatively similar, and there was a dose-response in the strength of associations across categories, such that APS > nCRPE > nSRPE. Experiences in all three categories were associated with female sex. nSRPE were associated with overall levels of psychopathology, but to a lesser degree than nCRPE and APS. APS and nCRPE were associated with less positive attributes, with APS more so than nCRPE. Only APS was associated with affective flattening. Conclusions: In children and adolescents, SRPE, CRPE, and APS all index liability for psychopathology, but as clinician rated relevance increases, associations get stronger and become evident across more domains.
ABSTRACT
Se considera la propuesta del Grupo de Trabajo en Psicosis del DSM‑5 de incluir el «síndrome de síntomas psicóticos atenuados¼ (previamente: «riesgo de psicosis¼) como categoría diagnóstica. Es un paso necesario, ya que el DSM‑IV no posibilita diagnosticar formas psicóticas menores o en fase inicial, pero el intento evidencia que la nosología actual no permite hacerlo. Los criterios diagnósticos propuestos son semejantes a los criterios nucleares de los trastornos psicóticos del DSM‑IV, con dos variantes: a) que los síntomas son atenuados y con prueba de realidad conservada y b) que la sumatoria propuesta es dimensional y no categorial (estructural), como lo es la sumatoria algorítmica y disyuntiva del DSM‑IV. Para que la construcción de la categoría diagnóstica exprese la realidad clínica que fundamenta la propuesta son necesarios principios psicopatológicos diferentes a los que organizan el proyecto del DSM‑5.
Subject(s)
Humans , Psychotic Disorders/diagnosis , Schizophrenia/diagnosis , Hallucinations , Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersABSTRACT
Se considera la propuesta del Grupo de Trabajo en Psicosis del DSM‑5 de incluir el ®síndrome de síntomas psicóticos atenuados¼ (previamente: ®riesgo de psicosis¼) como categoría diagnóstica. Es un paso necesario, ya que el DSM‑IV no posibilita diagnosticar formas psicóticas menores o en fase inicial, pero el intento evidencia que la nosología actual no permite hacerlo. Los criterios diagnósticos propuestos son semejantes a los criterios nucleares de los trastornos psicóticos del DSM‑IV, con dos variantes: a) que los síntomas son atenuados y con prueba de realidad conservada y b) que la sumatoria propuesta es dimensional y no categorial (estructural), como lo es la sumatoria algorítmica y disyuntiva del DSM‑IV. Para que la construcción de la categoría diagnóstica exprese la realidad clínica que fundamenta la propuesta son necesarios principios psicopatológicos diferentes a los que organizan el proyecto del DSM‑5.
The proposal of the DSM‑5s Psychosis Work Group to include attenuated psychotic symp‑toms syndrome (previously: psychosis risksyndrome) as a diagnostic category is consi‑dered. To identify the first phase of psychosisis a necessary step, taking into account thatthe DSM‑IV does not allow to diagnose neitherminor psychotic forms, nor initial phase forms. However, the attempt makes evident that the current nosology does not enable to do so. The suggested diagnostic criteria are similar to the nuclear criteriafor Psychotic Disorders of theDSM‑IV, but with two variants: a) that the symptoms are in attenuated form with intact reality testing and b) that the proposed summationis dimensional and not categorical (structural),as well as the algorithmic and disjunctive sum‑mation of the DSM‑IV. In order to build the diagnostic category expressing the clinical reality underlying the proposal of the Psychosis WorkGroup, different psychopathological principlesthan those that organize the draft of the DSM‑5are required.