BACKGROUND: Identifying young people as at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis affords opportunities for intervention to possibly prevent psychosis onset. Yet such CHR identification could plausibly increase stigma. We do not know whether these youth already perceive themselves to be at psychosis-risk (PR) or how their being told they are at PR might impact how they think about themselves. METHODS: 148 CHR youth were asked about labels they had been given by others (labeling by others) or with which they personally identified (self-labeling). They were then asked which had the greatest impact on how they thought about themselves. We evaluated whether being told vs. thinking they were at PR had stronger effects. FINDINGS: The majority identified nonpsychotic disorders rather than PR labels as having the greatest impact on sense of self (67.6% vs. 27.7%). However, participants who identified themselves as at PR had an 8.8 (95% CI = 2.0-39.1) increase in the odds of the PR label having the greatest impact (p < 0.01). Additionally, having been told by others that they were at PR was associated with a 4.0 increase in odds (95% CI = 1.1-15.0) that the PR label had the most impact (p < 0.05). INTERPRETATION: Nonpsychotic disorder labels appear to have a greater impact on CHR youth than psychosis-risk labels. However, thinking they are at PR, and, secondarily, being told they are at PR, appears to increase the relative impact of the PR label. Understanding self- and other-labeling may be important to how young people think of themselves, and may inform early intervention strategies.

Objective

This study investigated whether family focused therapy (FFT-CHR), an 18-session intervention that consisted of psychoeducation and training in communication and problem solving, brought about greater improvements in family communication than enhanced care (EC), a 3-session psychoeducational intervention, among individuals at clinical high risk for developing psychosis.

Method

This study was conducted within a randomized controlled trial across 8 sites. We examined 10-min problem-solving discussions at baseline and 6-month reassessment among 66 adolescents and young adults and their parents. Trained coders who were blind to treatment and time of assessment achieved high levels of interrater reliability when evaluating family discussions on categories of calm-constructive and critical-conflictual behavior.

Results

Individuals at high risk and their family members who participated in FFT-CHR demonstrated greater improvement from baseline to 6-month reassessment in constructive communication and decreases in conflictual behaviors during family interactions than those in EC. Participants in FFT-CHR showed greater increases from baseline to 6 months in active listening and calm communication and greater decreases in irritability and anger, complaints and criticism, and off-task comments compared to participants in EC. These changes occurred equally in high-risk participants and their family members.

Conclusions

A 6-month family skills training treatment can bring about significant improvement in family communication among individuals at high risk for psychosis and their parents. Future studies should examine the association between enhancements in family communication and reduced risk for the onset of psychosis among individuals at high risk.

OBJECTIVE: In a previous epidemiological study, we reported on the ascertainment and outcomes of clinical high risk (CHR) individuals at the Shanghai Mental Health Center (SMHC, 2011 cohort). The current study compares demographic and clinical characteristics, including conversion rates, of this sample with a subsequently recruited, independent CHR sample and with published data from western samples. METHOD: A new sample of 100 CHR subjects (2013 cohort) was selected based on screening and semi-structured interviews. Both studies used the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) for CHR assessment and conducted a naturalistic two-year follow-up. The two cohorts were compared on conversion rates, demographic and clinical characteristics, psychosis risk symptoms, and risk factors for psychotic conversion. RESULTS: Ninety one (91%) of the 2013 cohort subjects completed the clinical two-year follow-up and 25 (27.5% of the 91) converted to a psychotic disorder over the follow-up period. A comparison of conversions to full psychosis between the 2013 and the 2011 cohorts showed no significant difference in time to conversion (Pairwise comparison: χ2=0.3, p=0.562). Both cohort studies showed that CHR subjects with more severe clinical symptoms at baseline and decline in functioning were more likely to convert to psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: Conversion rates in this new, independent Chinese sample are similar to those reported in non-Chinese samples and to the 2011 cohort. Future research is needed to examine whether the implementation of early intervention for CHR/prodromal symptoms reduces the risk of psychosis and decreases the conversion rate.

Early intervention for psychotic disorders, a growing international priority, typically targets help-seeking populations with emerging psychotic ("positive") symptoms. We assessed the nature of and degree to which treatment of individuals at high risk for psychosis preceded or followed the onset of positive symptoms. The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study-2 collected psychosocial treatment histories for 745 (98%) of 764 high-risk participants (M age = 18.9, 57% male, 57.5% Caucasian, 19.1% Hispanic) recruited from 8 North American communities. Similar to prior findings, 82% of participants reported psychosocial treatment prior to baseline assessment, albeit with significant variability across sites (71%-96%). Participants first received treatment a median of 1.7 years prior to the onset of a recognizable psychosis-risk syndrome. Only one fourth sought initial treatment in the year following syndrome onset. Although mean sample age differed significantly by site, age at initial treatment (M = 14.1, SD = 5.0) did not. High rates of early treatment prior to syndrome onset make sense in light of known developmental precursors to psychotic disorders but are inconsistent with the low rates of treatment retrospectively reported by first-episode psychosis samples. Findings suggest that psychosis risk studies and clinics may need to more actively recruit and engage symptomatic but non-help-seeking individuals and that community clinicians be better trained to recognize both positive and nonspecific indicators of emerging psychosis. Improved treatments for nonspecific symptoms, as well as the characteristic attenuated positive symptoms, are needed.

Abstract

Background

Although the clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis paradigm has become well-established over the past two decades, one key component has received surprisingly little direct investigative attention: the validity of the conversion to psychosis or transition criteria. This lack of evidence is surprising because many CHR treatment and prediction studies rely on the conversion measure as an outcome. In the absence of such evidence, some observers have raised the possibility that conversions from CHR may be trivial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive validity of the transition to psychosis as measured by the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) in CHR individuals. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the CHR conversion to psychosis at one-year follow-up. It is hypothesized that CHR participants whose conversion to frank psychosis was ascertained by SIPS (SIPS CV) will show similar diagnostic stability and severity of illness compared to the FEP sample and will differ significantly from SIPS Non-Converters (NCV) on clinical severity.

Methods

Participants included 33 SIPS Converters (CV) (met criteria for conversion to frank psychosis (COPS) on SIPS) and 399 CHR NCV both from the North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study (NAPLS 2), as well as a sample of 67 separately-ascertained first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients from the STEP Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) program in New Haven, CT. Comparisons using Chi-square and ANOVA were made at baseline and one-year follow-up on variables from demographic, diagnostic stability (SCID) and available measurement domains relating to severity of illness (psychotropic medication and resource utilization).

Results

The principal findings of the present study are: 1) large majority of cases in both SIPS CV (n=27/33, 81.8%) and FEP (n=57/67, 85.1%) samples continued to have current psychosis diagnoses at one year follow up, 2) exposure to antipsychotic medication was higher in SIPS CVs (n=17/32, 53.1%) compared to SIPS NCVs (n=81/397, 20.4%), and similar as compared to FEP cases (n=39/65, 60%), 3) at follow up, SIPS CV had higher rates of resource utilization (any psychiatric hospitalizations, day hospital admissions, and ER visits) than SIPS-NCV and were similar to FEP in most categories.

Discussion

The results suggest that the SIPS definition of psychosis onset carries substantial validity in that those with SIPS-defined psychosis demonstrate similar diagnostic stability and severity of illness at one-year follow as a first episode sample and greater severity of illness as compared to a SIPS-defined CHR con-converting sample. Limitations include the lack of functional assessments at follow-up in the SIPS-CV. Additional studies are needed to further validate the CHR vs transition to psychosis distinction. Since many patients who come to baseline evaluation for CHR are discovered to have previously unrecognized frank psychosis, future studies should aim to obtain additional evidence by following this important group.

OBJECTIVE: Despite the appeal of early intervention in psychosis, there is concern that identifying youth as having high psychosis risk (PR) may trigger stigma. This study employed a pre-post design to measure change in PR participants emotions about PR upon being told of their PR status and according to whether this was the first time receiving this information. METHODS: Participants (n = 54) identified as at PR via structured interview rated their emotions about PR before and after being told they were at PR. Qualitative analyses explored the valence of participant reflections on being given this information. RESULTS: Participants reported significantly less negative emotion after being told of their PR status (p < .001), regardless of whether they were hearing this for the first time (p = .72). There was no change in positive emotions or the predominant belief that they should keep their PR status private. Most participants commented positively about the process of feedback but negatively about its impact on their self-perceptions and/or expectations of others perceptions of them. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to collect pre-post data related to being told one is at PR and to examine quantitative and qualitative responses across and within individuals. For a majority of participants, clinical feedback stimulated negative stereotypes even as it relieved some distress. To actively address internalized stigma, clinicians providing feedback to PR youth must attend to the positive and negative impacts on how youth think about themselves as well as how they feel.

The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) fills a significant need for a standardized battery of cognitive tests to use in clinical trials for schizophrenia in adults aged 20-59. A need remains, however, to develop norms for younger individuals, who also show elevated risks for schizophrenia. Toward this end, we assessed performance in healthy adolescents. Baseline MCCB, reading and IQ data were obtained from healthy controls (ages 12-19) participating in two concurrent NIMH-funded studies: North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study phase 2 (NAPLS-2; n=126) and Boston Center for Intervention Development and Applied Research (CIDAR; n=13). All MCCB tests were administered except the Managing Emotions subtest from the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. Data were collected from 8 sites across North America. MCCB scores were presented in four 2-year age cohorts as T-scores for each test and cognitive domain, and analyzed for effects of age and sex. Due to IQ differences between age-grouped subsamples, IQ served as a covariate in analyses. Overall and sex-based raw scores for individual MCCB tests are presented for each age-based cohort. Adolescents generally showed improvement with age in most MCCB cognitive domains, with the clearest linear trends in Attention/Vigilance and Working Memory. These control data show that healthy adolescence is a dynamic period for cognitive development that is marked by substantial improvement in MCCB performance through the 12-19 age range. They also provide healthy comparison raw scores to facilitate clinical evaluations of adolescents, including those at risk for developing psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia-related conditions.

Depressed mood appears to be highly prevalent in clinical high risk (CHR) samples. However, many prior CHR studies utilize modest size samples and do not report on the specific impact of depression on CHR symptoms. The aim of the current paper is to investigate the prevalence of depressive disorders and the impact of lifetime depression on baseline clinical presentation and longitudinal outcomes in a large cohort of individuals meeting CHR criteria in the second phase of the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS-2). Depression was assessed both categorically (via DSM-IV-TR diagnoses) and symptomatically (using a clinician-rated scale of depressive symptoms) within a sample of 764 individuals at CHR and 279 controls. Current and lifetime depressive disorders were highly prevalent (60%) in this sample. Depression diagnoses were associated with more pronounced negative and general symptoms; individuals with remitted depression had significantly less severe negative, disorganized, and general symptoms and better social and role functioning relative to those with current depression. Current mood disturbance, as measured by scores on a clinician-rated symptom scale, contributed beyond the impact of positive and negative symptoms to impairments in social functioning. Both symptomatic and diagnostic baseline depression was significantly associated with decreased likelihood of remission from CHR status; however depression did not differentially distinguish persistent CHR status from transition to psychosis at follow-up. These findings suggest that depressed mood may function as a marker of poor prognosis in CHR, yet effective treatment of depression within this population can yield improvements in symptoms and functioning.

Abstract

Background

In spite of evidence for the premorbid and prodromal onset of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, there is some limited evidence to suggest that deficits may progress with psychosis onset. Cognitive remediation in youth at risk for psychosis is being touted as an opportunity not only to remediate deficits but to potentially prevent this progression. Yet trajectories of cognitive functioning over time remain poorly understood in youth at risk, including the degree to which age at assessment or illness onset, sociodemographic factors, or symptom progression influence these trajectories.

Methods

The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) -2 collected data on an extensive battery of neuropsychological (NP) tests at baseline, one year, two years, and post-conversion in a sample of clinical high risk (CHR) youth and healthy comparison (HC) subjects ages 12–35 (N= 960, 92% of the full sample) followed clinically for up to 2 years. NP data were available for 694 at CHR and 265 HC. Linear mixed effects analyses were used to test the effects of group, age, gender, age of onset, maternal education, and clinical outcome on cognitive trajectories.

Results

Those who transitioned to a psychotic disorder over the course of follow-up performed significantly below those who did not and well below healthy comparisons. Tasks reliant on attention, visual and auditory working memory, visuospatial and verbal memory, and processing speed best differentiated those who transitioned from those who did not at one year (Cohen’s d from -0.33 to -0.54). Discrepancies from normal functioning on these tests were generally large (Cohen’s d from -0.67 to -1.02) consistent with findings for first episode samples. Although clinical outcome was not associated with a significantly different trajectory over time on any cognitive domain, these are likely due to high rates of conversion in this sample within the first year. Predictors of different trajectories will be presented.

Discussion

These data from one of the largest CHR studies to date suggest that much of the neuropsychological dysfunction in major psychotic disorders is present early in the course of illness and prior to its full expression. However, trajectories are highly heterogeneous. More frequent assessment prior to and during the onset of illness are needed to fully understand the cognitive correlates of psychosis onset and the implications for early intervention.