Sustained specialized and family treatment in first-episode schizophrenia or related disorders: a 5-year randomized controlled trial.

Background: The long-term outcome of first-episode schizophrenia needs improvement. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of 5 years sustained specialist treatment (ST), ST including Parent groups (ST + P) or treatment as usual (TAU) on psychotic relapse and social functioning.

Methods: A three condition randomized, parallel assigned, single-blind efficacy trial, in which 198 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients aged 15-28 years were included.

Depression predicts persistence of paranoia in clinical high-risk patients to psychosis: results of the EPOS project.

Background: The link between depression and paranoia has long been discussed in psychiatric literature. Because the causality of this association is difficult to study in patients with full-blown psychosis, we aimed to investigate how clinical depression relates to the presence and occurrence of paranoid symptoms in clinical high-risk (CHR) patients.

Methods: In all, 245 young help-seeking CHR patients were assessed for suspiciousness and paranoid symptoms with the structured interview for prodromal syndromes at baseline, 9- and 18-month follow-up.

Relevance of Five-Factor Model personality traits for obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with psychotic disorders and their un-affected siblings.

High rates of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) in schizophrenia require pathogenic explanations. Personality traits may represent risk and resiliency factors for the development of mental disorders and their comorbidities. The aim of the present study was to explore the associations between Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality traits and the liability for OCS in patients with psychotic disorders and in their un-affected siblings.

Pathways to care in subjects at high risk for psychotic disorders - a European perspective.

Evidence-based decisions on indicated prevention in early psychosis require large-scale studies on the pathways to care in high-risk subjects. EPOS (The European Prediction of Psychosis Study), a prospective multi-center, naturalistic field study in four European countries (Finland, Germany, The Netherlands and England), was designed to acquire accurate knowledge about pathways to care and delay in obtaining specialized high risk care. Our high risk sample (n=233) reported on average 2.