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Form and content of attenuated psychotic symptoms in psychometrically assessed positive and negative schizotypy
Author(s) -
Trask Christi L.,
Cohn Jonathan R.,
Paxson Aaliyah M.,
Hansen Geoffrey S.,
Cicero David C.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
early intervention in psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.087
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1751-7893
pISSN - 1751-7885
DOI - 10.1111/eip.12856
Subject(s) - schizotypy , psychology , clinical psychology , feeling , content (measure theory) , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychosis , psychiatry , social psychology , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Aim Greater attention is being paid to early detection and identification of individuals who are at high risk of developing psychosis. One area of interest is the particular content types of psychotic‐like experiences (PLEs), which can be thought of as attenuated, non‐clinical positive symptoms (eg, feeling perplexed by reality). Previous research has examined content of PLEs in clinical high‐risk samples. The current study aimed to build upon these findings by analysing content in a psychometrically determined high‐risk sample. Methods One hundred fifty‐three undergraduates with scores greater than 1.96 SDs above the mean on a measure of schizotypy symptoms participated in a semi‐structured interview for the assessment of prodromal syndromes. Each interview was transcribed verbatim and content of PLEs was rated according to the Content of Attenuated Positive Symptoms scale. Results Frequencies of content items in the psychometric high‐risk sample were similar to those found in a clinical high‐risk sample. Multiple regression analyses revealed that certain content items were more predictive of decreased global functioning and increased positive symptom severity. Conclusions Content items that were associated with worse outcomes may be cause for greater concern if endorsed by individuals presenting for treatment. Future research should examine content of PLEs in a longitudinal design to determine whether particular items could predict subsequent conversion to a schizophrenia‐spectrum disorder.