Subclinical hallucinations in adolescent outpatients: an outcome study.

Objective: We assessed the continued prevalence at one year and association with clinical variables of subclinical hallucinations ascertained at baseline in a cohort of adolescent outpatients referred to a specialized early psychosis service. We further assessed the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adolescents presenting subclinical hallucinations.

Method: 84 adolescent patients were sampled from a longitudinal, prospective study that assesses the course of clinical and neuropsychological measures in patients identified as at high clinical risk for psychosis.

[The mental status of overweight children].

Objective: Numerous studies based on parent questionnaires reveal that obese children are subject to both physical and psychosocial strains. Children are not included as informants in the assessment procedure, and there is a lack of clinical interview studies assessing DSM-IV-based diagnoses in overweight children.

Methods: Emotional and behavioural problems of treatment seeking obese children (N = 59; aged 8-12-years) attending a mental health service were assessed by means of clinical interviews (Kinder-DIPS) that included child and parent reports.

Randomized controlled comparison of two cognitive behavioral therapies for obese children: mother versus mother-child cognitive behavioral therapy.

Background: Parent-child treatments have been shown to be superior to child-focused treatments of childhood obesity. Yet until now, the comparative effectiveness of parent-only and parent-child approaches has been little studied.

Method: Fifty-six obese children and their families were randomly assigned to a 16-session cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for the parents only or for a combined treatment of parents and children.

Cognitive functioning in the schizophrenia prodrome.

In the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in cognitive alterations during the early course of schizophrenia. From a clinical perspective, a better understanding of cognitive functioning in putative at-risk states for schizophrenia is essential for developing optimal early intervention models. Two approaches have more recently been combined to assess the entire course of the initial schizophrenia prodrome: the predictive "basic symptom at-risk" (BS) and the ultra high-risk (UHR) criteria.

Developing services for the early detection of psychosis: a critical consideration of the current state of the art.

Recent research has attempted to improve the identification of individuals at-risk of developing schizophrenia to permit targeted early prevention. Two sets of criteria, one characterized by a subgroup of 'basic symptoms' [Klosterkötter, Hellmich, Steinmeyer, Schultze-Lutter (2001) Arch Gen Psychiat 58:158-164] and one by the ultra high-risk model [Miller, McGlashan, Woods, Stein, Driesen, Corcoran, Hoffman, Davidson (1999) Psychiatr Q 70:273-287; Yung, McGorry, McFarlane, Jackson, Patton, Rakkar (1996) Schizophr Bull 22:283-303], have been associated with positive predictive values for later schizophrenia. This paper is a critical discussion of these predictive values.

Defining subjects at risk for psychosis: a comparison of two approaches.

The ability to detect individuals at high risk for developing schizophrenia before they express the disease will lead to targeted early intervention. It has been proposed that subjects at risk share a core deficit with people who already have schizophrenia. This includes cognitive impairment, affective symptoms, social isolation and decline in social functioning.