Clinical phenomenology of the prodrome for psychosis
Oxford University Press eBooks November 1, 2020 Albert R. Powers, T. Mcglashan, S. Woods 5 citations
Psychosis is typically preceded by a prodrome, which begins with nonspecific symptoms like anxiety and depression before more specific negative and attenuated positive symptoms emerge. Prospective diagnostic criteria, developed from retrospective studies, show high reliability in research settings. Individuals assessed as at clinical high risk (CHR) are five to seven times more likely to progress to psychosis than those not at risk, and they also experience functional and cognitive impairment and distress. CHR diagnosis rates are low in general epidemiology studies, supporting validity, but substantially higher in clinical epidemiology studies, indicating CHR is an important but often overlooked clinical entity. Several areas needing additional research are identified.