Criminal offending before and after the onset of psychosis: examination of an offender typology.

OBJECTIVE: Clinicians often consider whether or not offenders with psychosis have a history of offending pre-dating the onset of their illness. The typology of offenders based on age at first offence, developed in the field of criminology, has been recently extended to mentally disordered groups, but this ignores the potential role of illness onset. METHOD: Using a large UK cohort of individuals with both psychosis and offending histories (n=331), we compared those with a history of offending pre-dating their illness (pre-morbid offenders) to those who commenced offending after becoming unwell (post-morbid offenders). We compared the demographic, clinical and offending pattern characteristics of the two groups. RESULTS: 198 (60%) had offended before the onset of psychosis. These pre-morbid offenders were more likely to be male, have a lower pre-morbid IQ and have had a history of neurological abnormality. Pre-morbid offenders also committed more crime overall, but this was due to an excess of acquisitive, drug and minor offending, rather than violent offending, which was comparable to the post-morbid offending group. CONCLUSION: Currently, standardised clinical risk assessment tools view offenders with mental illness as a homogenous group with respect to life-course patterns of offending in relation to illness. Taking account of an individual's pathway to offending may improve risk assessment and management.

Suicide and attempted suicide among people of Caribbean origin with psychosis living in the UK.

BACKGROUND: A report from a 1980s cohort claimed that suicidal behaviour was four times less common in UK-resident people of Caribbean origin with psychosis than in British Whites. Since then, evidence has accumulated that the rate of suicide and suicidal ideation has been increasing. Aims To compare rates of suicidal behaviour in people of Caribbean and British White origin in a large multi-centre sample of patients with psychosis. METHOD: A secondary analysis of 708 patients with psychosis followed up for 2 years. Outcome measures of reported suicide and attempted suicide were adjusted for socio-economic and clinical differences between groups at baseline. RESULTS: People of Caribbean origin had a lower risk of suicidal behaviour than British Whites (odds ratio adjusted for age and gender 0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.92). There was a strong negative interaction between ethnic group and age: suicidal acts were four times less likely in people of Caribbean origin aged over 35 years compared with British Whites, but there was no large or significant difference in those under 35. CONCLUSIONS: The previously reported lower relative risk of suicidal behaviour in people of Caribbean origin with psychosis is restricted to those over 35 years, suggesting that the protective effect of Caribbean origin is disappearing in younger generations.

Comparison of the outcome and treatment of psychosis in people of Caribbean origin living in the UK and British Whites. Report from the UK700 trial.

BACKGROUND: The comparative outcome of psychosis in British Whites and UK African-Caribbeans is unclear. Some report that African-Caribbeans have worse outcome, whereas others claim better symptomatic outcome and a more benign course. AIMS: To compare the course, outcome and treatment of psychosis in African-Caribbeans and British Whites in a large multi-centre sample. METHOD: A secondary analysis of 708 patients with research diagnostic criteria-defined psychosis from a 2-year, randomised controlled trial of case management. Outcome measures (hospitalisation, illness course, self-harm, social disability and treatment received) were adjusted for socio-economic and clinical differences between groups at baseline using regression analysis. RESULTS: African-Caribbeans were less likely to have a continuous illness and to receive treatment with antidepressant or psychotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of psychosis is complex but differs between UK African-Caribbeans and British Whites. This may reflect risk factors that increase the rate of psychosis in UK African-Caribbeans. Treatment differences require further investigation.

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia and compliance with medication.

Poor compliance with medication has been reported in up to 40 percent of outpatients with schizophrenia. This study examines the relationship between compliance with depot neuroleptic medication and severity of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Compliance with depot neuroleptic medication during the preceding year was calculated for 64 patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia. The severity of negative symptoms was assessed using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Patients who complied poorly with medication had significantly greater severity of negative symptoms of schizophrenia, especially avolition, apathy, and alogia. Duration of illness and duration of prescribed medication were independently associated with compliance, but no other features were associated in the multiple regression model. These findings suggest that negative symptoms are one of the factors of importance in determining whether a patient will attend for depot neuroleptic medication.

Relatives of patients with severe psychotic illness: factors that influence appraisal of caregiving and psychological distress.

BACKGROUND: Research shows considerable variability in the effect on relatives of patients' mental illness but the determinants of relatives' experience remain unclear. We investigated the influence of demographic, social and clinical characteristics on relatives' experience when conceptualised using a stress-appraisal-coping paradigm. METHODS: Our sample was drawn from relatives of patients recruited to the UK700 case management study (n = 154). Demographic, social and clinical data were collected from patients, and relatives completed the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire. We predicted that patients' symptomatology in particular would influence relatives' experience, and that relatives who appraised caregiving more negatively and less positively would experience greater psychological distress. RESULTS: Linear regression analyses revealed that relatives' appraisal was not predicted by patients' symptomatology. Instead, relatives appraised caregiving more negatively if the patient was unemployed or younger, and less positively if the patient had been ill for longer or had poorer social functioning. Little of the variance in appraisal was explained by these variables, however. Consistent with the stress-coping model, relatives' negative appraisal was a strong predictor of psychological distress and accounted for a substantial proportion of its variance. Positive appraisal did not predict psychological distress, however. None of the demographic, social or clinical characteristics tested had any significant effect on relatives' psychological distress once appraisal was adjusted for. There was an unexpected positive correlation between the two appraisal scales, with relatives who appraised caregiving more negatively also appraising it more positively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support a stress-coping model of caregiving but further research is required to determine more influential predictors of relatives' appraisal. Our findings indicate that interventions aimed at patients' social functioning and relatives' negative appraisal of caregiving may assist in reducing relatives' psychological distress.

Does socioeconomic status predict course and outcome in patients with psychosis?

BACKGROUND: We examined the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and course and outcome of patients with psychosis. Two hypotheses were examined: a) patients with higher best-ever SES will have better course and outcome than those with lower best-ever SES, and b) patients with greater downward drift in SES will have poorer course and outcome than those with less downward drift. METHOD: Data were drawn from the baseline and 2-year follow-up assessments of the UK700 Case Management Trial of 708 patients with severe psychosis. The indicators of SES used were occupational status and educational achievement. Drift in SES was defined as change from best-ever occupation to occupation at baseline. RESULTS: For the baseline data highly significant differences were found between best-ever groups and negative symptoms (non-manual vs. unemployed--coef -10.5, p=0.000, 95% CIs 5.1-15.8), functioning (non-manual vs. unemployed--coef -0.6, p=0.000, 95% CIs 0.3 to -0.8) and unmet needs (manual vs. unemployed - coef 0.5, p=0.004, 95% CIs 0.2-0.9). No significant differences between best-ever groups were found for days in hospital, symptoms, perceived quality of life and dissatisfaction with services. Significant differences for clinical and social variables were found between drift and non-drift SES groups. There were no significant findings between educational groups and clinical and social variables. CONCLUSIONS: Best-ever occupation, but not educational qualifications, appeared to predict prognosis in patients with severe psychosis. Downward drift in occupational status did not result in poorer illness course and outcome.

Diagnostic value of the DSM and ICD categories of psychosis: an evidence-based approach. UK700 Group.

BACKGROUND: It is generally assumed that the distinction between affective and non-affective psychosis occasioned by modern diagnostic criteria provides a useful symptomatic contrast. METHOD: In a sample of 708 patients with chronic psychosis, the distinction of lifetime DSM-III-R and ICD-10 diagnoses of affective versus non-affective psychosis was used as a diagnostic test to detect lifetime presence of depressive, manic, positive, negative and disorganisation symptoms. RESULTS: A manic or depressive affective diagnosis was a perfect test to diagnose the presence of manic and depressive symptoms, as evidenced by very high diagnostic likelihood ratios. However, this test result was based solely on the inclusion criterion that patients with affective psychosis must have affective symptoms (guaranteeing high specificity and high likelihood ratios), and ignored the fact that patients with non-affective psychosis also had high affective symptom scores (low sensitivity). Furthermore, a non-affective psychotic diagnosis was a very poor test to diagnose correctly the presence of positive, negative and disorganisation symptoms in comparison with an affective psychotic diagnosis. In general, the DSM-III-R categories performed somewhat better as a diagnostic test than those of ICD-10. CONCLUSION: The evidence for true diagnostic value of the distinction between affective and non-affective psychotic diagnoses is weak. Rather, the distinction appears to obscure natural overlap between the symptom dimensions of the different diagnostic categories.

Changes in negative symptoms and the risk of tardive dyskinesia: a longitudinal study. UK700 Group.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the development of tardive dyskinesia (TD) is accompanied by a parallel process of worsening negative symptoms in a longitudinal study. METHOD: A sample of 708 psychotic patients were followed over a period of 2 years, using the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). RESULTS: Of 361 individuals with no prior evidence of dyskinesia, 46 (13%) developed TD by year 2. Independent of the effects of male sex (odds ratio (OR)=2.18, 95% confidence interval: 1.00-4.74), age (OR per quartile group = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.01-1.90), duration of exposure to antipsychotic medication (OR = 2.35 per 8 months, 95% CI: 1.17-4.72) and average SANS score (OR per quartile group = 1.38, 95% CI: 0.99-1.93), worsening of negative symptoms over the 2 previous years was associated with TD onset (OR per quartile group = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.07-2.00). CONCLUSION: The development of TD is linked, independent of the effect of antipsychotics and older age, to an illness-related pathological process, characterized by worsening negative symptoms.

The expressed emotion of case managers of the seriously mentally ill: the influence of expressed emotion on clinical outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Expressed emotion (EE) measured from relatives and informal carers has been consistently demonstrated to be associated with clinical outcome in schizophrenic patients. There have also been published studies that have investigated EE in professional carers that have suggested that the quality of the relationship between staff and patient may also be associated with patient outcomes. A large controlled trial of the effectiveness of different intensities of case management provided the opportunity to assess the association between the EE of case managers, including the quality of the relationship they had with patients under their care, and later clinical outcomes. METHOD: This was a prospective naturalistic study of EE present in a case manager patient dyad and subsequent patient outcomes. EE was assessed from the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) at least 3 months after the case manager became responsible for the patient's care and a range of clinical outcomes were assessed 6 to 9 months later. Assessment of clinical outcomes was made independent and blind of the EE ratings. RESULTS: High EE ratings were significantly associated with individual case managers and not to symptom or illness factors. High EE was not associated with later clinical outcome, however, the positive relationship between case manager and patient was. The absence of a positive relationship was significantly associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of very low face-to-face contact between case managers and patients, compared with the amount of contact patients have with their informal carers and family, aspects of staff attitudes and behaviour did influence clinical outcome. There are potential implications of these results for staff training and clinical practice.

To what extent does symptomatic improvement result in better outcome in psychotic illness? UK700 Group.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of therapeutic interventions in psychosis is increasingly reported in terms of reductions in different symptom dimensions. It remains unclear, however, to what degree such symptomatic changes are accompanied by improvement in other measures such as service use, quality of life, and needs for care. METHODS: A sample of 708 patients with chronic psychotic illness was assessed on three occasions over 2 years (baseline, year 1 and year 2). A multilevel analysis was conducted to examine to what degree reduction in psychopathological scores derived from factor analysis of the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS), was associated with improvement in service use, disability, subjective outcomes and measures of self-harm. RESULTS: Reduction in positive, negative, depressive and manic symptoms over the study period were all independently associated with lessening of social disability. Reduction in negative symptoms, and to a lesser extent in positive and manic symptoms, was associated with less time in hospital and more time living independently, whereas changes in positive and manic symptoms resulted in fewer admissions. Subjective outcomes such as improvement in quality of life, perceived needs for care and dissatisfaction with services showed the strongest associations with reduction in depressive symptoms. Reduction in positive symptoms was associated with decreased likelihood of parasuicide. Results did not differ according to diagnostic category. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that changes in distinct psychopathological dimensions independently and differentially influence outcome. Therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing symptoms of more than one dimension are likely to have more widespread effects.

A comparison of the utility of dimensional and categorical representations of psychosis. UK700 Group.

BACKGROUND: The usefulness of any diagnostic scheme is directly related to its ability to provide clinically useful information on need for care. In this study, the clinical usefulness of dimensional and categorical representations of psychotic psychopathology were compared. METHOD: A total of 706 patients aged 16-65 years with chronic psychosis were recruited. Psychopathology was measured with the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS). Lifetime RDC, DSM-III-R, and ICD-10 diagnoses and ratings of lifetime psychopathology were made using OPCRIT. Other clinical measures included: (i) need for care; (ii) quality of life; (iii) social disability; (iv) satisfaction with services; (v) abnormal movements; (vi) brief neuropsychological screen; and (vii) over the last 2 years--illness course, symptom severity, employment, medication use, self-harm, time in hospital and living independently. RESULTS: Principal component factor analysis of the 65 CPRS items on cross-sectional psychopathology yielded four dimensions of positive, negative, depressive and manic symptoms. Regression models comparing the relative contributions of dimensional and categorical representations of psychopathology with clinical measures consistently indicated strong and significant effects of psychopathological dimensions over and above any effect of their categorical counterparts, whereas the reverse did not hold. The effect of psychopathological dimensions was mostly cumulative: high ratings on more than one dimension increased the contribution to the clinical measures in a dose-response fashion. Similar results were obtained with psychopathological dimensions derived from lifetime psychopathology ratings using the OCCPI. CONCLUSIONS: A dimensional approach towards classification of psychotic illness offers important clinical advantages.

Tardive dyskinesia in psychosis: are women really more at risk? UK700 Group.

It is commonly held that women are more at risk of developing tardive dyskinesia (TD). However, recent evidence suggests that this may only be the case in samples of older patients, men being more at risk in the younger age groups. Abnormal movements were measured with the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) in a sample of 706 chronic psychotic patients aged not older than 65 years (median age 36 years). Female gender was associated with a lower risk of TD (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.7). The effect of gender was independent of other risk factors such as older age, severity of negative symptoms and exposure to antipsychotic medication in the previous 2 years. There was no evidence that the effect of these risk factors differed between the sexes. In samples of relatively young patients with chronic psychotic illness, who typically represent the majority of patients in community programmes for the severely mentally ill, men are more at risk of TD than women.