PURPOSE Cognitive deficits are common in the first episode of psychosis (FEP) and may begin much earlier. While some evidence suggests that the decline in cognition occurs over the untreated symptomatic period, including the prodromal phase, others point to these deficits being present even earlier. We aimed to investigate the differential effect of untreated symptomatic and pre-morbid phases o...

x Ask about symptoms suggesting psychological vulnerability, such as irritability, feeling uneasy, constant tiredness, suspiciousness, and withdrawal. x If you suspect psychosis, ask more about changes in social functioning, such as problems in relationships with friends and family; cognition, such as poor concentration or memory; mood, such as feeling depressed, anxious, or irritable; and thou...

Neurological soft signs (NSS) refer to subtle neurological abnormalities comprising deficits in sensory integration, motor coordination, or sequencing of complex motor acts. It is generally accepted that NSS are more prevalent in schizophrenia patients, including first -episode cases, than in healthy subjects. Moreover, NSS have been consistently demonstrated in neuroleptic naïve firstepisode p...

Disturbances in cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical circuits in schizophrenia have been described by previous neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) provides a neurophysiological technique for the measurement of cortical excitability, especially of the motoneural system. Previous studies using paired-pulse TMS to investigate short-interval co...

BACKGROUND Identifying neurocognitive subtypes in schizophrenia may help establish neurobiologically meaningful subtypes of the disorder, but is frequently confounded by differences in intellectual function between individuals with schizophrenia and controls. AIMS To examine neuropsychological performance in individuals with epidemiologically based, first-onset schizophrenia and intellectuall...

In the west London prospective study of first episode schizophrenia, the prevalence and nature of abnormal involuntary movements were examined in 27 patients who had never received antipsychotic drugs and 36 who had been treated with such medication. Motor disturbance was assessed with rating scales designed to cover the full range of spontaneous and drug induced movement disorder. Only one per...

BACKGROUND White-matter hyperintensities have been associated with both schizophrenia and mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorder, but results are inconsistent across studies. AIMS To examine whether white-matter hyperintensities are a vulnerability marker for psychosis or are specifically associated with bipolar disorder. METHOD T(2)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data were acqu...

BACKGROUND Studies of chronic schizophrenia suggest that there are subgroups with different profiles of cognitive impairment. AIMS To determine whether such heterogeneity is present at illness onset and any relationship to clinical variables. METHOD Ninety-three community patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 50 healthy volunteers were assessed for premorbid (Revised National Adult ...

INTRODUCTION Generally agreed outcome criteria in psychosis are required to evaluate the effectiveness of new treatment strategies. The aim of this study is to explore clinical recovery in first-episode patients, defined by meeting criteria for both symptomatic and functional remission. METHOD In a sample of first-episode patients (N = 125), symptomatic and functional remission during the las...