Characterizing the Clinical Trajectory and Predicting Persistence and Deterioration of Attenuated Psychotic Symptoms in Ultra-High-Risk Individuals.

Background: Almost 40% of individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis experience persistent attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) yet it is unclear (1) whether they share overlapping clinical and functional outcomes compared to individuals who transition to psychosis, (2) when symptom and functioning trajectories begin to diverge between UHR individuals with different clinical outcomes, and (3) whether non-remission (persistent APS or transition) can be predicted using baseline and/or longitudinal data.

Study Design: Participants were drawn from 2 randomized clinical trials: Neurapro (n = 220; discovery sample) and STEP (n = 180; external validation sample). First, 12-24 month symptoms and functioning were compared between UHR individuals with persistent APS, sustained remission, or transition to psychosis.

Psychosis and the self: How spontaneous discussions of subjective experiences compare in the clinical high-risk and first-episode psychosis populations.

Objective: Prior qualitative studies show that individuals with psychoticlike experiences express difficulties concerning their identity. However, previous work has studied individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) and individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) separately. Here, we compare the experiences of individuals at CHR, individuals with FEP, and healthy individuals.

Psychosis Risk: Time to Look Empirically at a First-step Economical-pragmatic Way to Examine Anomalous Self-experience. Exploring the SQuEASE-11.

Background: Since the late 1990s, there has been a worldwide surge of scientific interest in the pre-psychotic phase, resulting in the introduction of several clinical tools for early detection. The predictive accuracy of these tools has been limited, motivating the need for methodological and perspectival improvements. The EASE manual supports systematic assessment of anomalous self-experience, and proposes an overall model of understanding how most psychotic experiences may be initially generated on the basis of a unifying, fundamental, pre-reflective distortion of subjectivity.

Erythrocyte membrane fatty acid concentrations and myelin integrity in young people at ultra-high risk of psychosis.

Decreased white matter (WM) integrity and disturbance in fatty acid composition have been reported in individuals at ultra-high risk of psychosis (UHR). The current study is the first to investigate both WM integrity and erythrocyte membrane polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) levels as potential risk biomarkers for persistent UHR status, and global functioning in UHR individuals. Forty UHR individuals were analysed at baseline for erythrocyte membrane PUFA concentrates.

Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Schizophrenia (AMP® SCZ): Rationale and Study Design of the Largest Global Prospective Cohort Study of Clinical High Risk for Psychosis.

This article describes the rationale, aims, and methodology of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Schizophrenia (AMP® SCZ). This is the largest international collaboration to date that will develop algorithms to predict trajectories and outcomes of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis and to advance the development and use of novel pharmacological interventions for CHR individuals. We present a description of the participating research networks and the data processing analysis and coordination center, their processes for data harmonization across 43 sites from 13 participating countries (recruitment across North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, and South America), data flow and quality assessment processes, data analyses, and the transfer of data to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive (NDA) for use by the research community.