BACKGROUND Even at the first episode of psychosis, high expressed emotion (EE) characterises over half of patient-carer relationships. This study compared a carer appraisal model of EE with the ability of illness factors to predict EE at the first episode. AIMS To investigate the utility of a carer appraisal model of EE in first-episode psychosis. METHOD We compared high- and low-EE carers ...

Self-determination theory (SDT) postulates that satisfaction of three basic psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and well-being) promotes motivation, well-being, and growth across domains of functioning. Thus, per SDT, we examined satisfaction of basic psychological needs among individuals with first-episode psychosis. First, we quantified the level of need satisfaction among a samp...

BACKGROUND ICD-10 has introduced the diagnostic group acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPDs; F23). AIMS To validate the nosological distinctiveness of ICD-10 ATPDs by following up an inception cohort with first-episode psychosis. METHOD All patients with first-episode psychosis identified in Nottingham between 1992 and 1994 and diagnosed using ICD-10 criteria were reassessed 3 year...

Background. No consensus between guidelines exists regarding neuroimaging in first-episode psychosis. The purpose of this study is to assess anomalies found in structural neuroimaging exams (brain computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) in the initial medical work-up of patients presenting first-episode psychosis. Methods. The study subjects were 32 patients aged 18-48 ye...

OBJECTIVE Patients with first-episode psychosis are responsive to acute-phase treatments, but relapse rates are high. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a psychosocial treatment designed to prevent the second episode of psychosis compared with standardized early psychosis care. METHOD In a randomized controlled trial, conducted at the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention...

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that violence is more common in the first episode of psychosis than after treatment. AIM To estimate the proportion of survivors of violent suicide attempts during psychotic illness who had not previously received treatment with antipsychotic medication. METHODS An audit of the medical records of patients admitted to an inner city trauma centre after having...

Abstract Background and Hypothesis This systematic review meta-analysis the literature regarding prevalence of visual hallucinations in patients with first-episode psychosis. Previous reviews have focused on a general psychosis population, highlighting weighted 27%. However, no specifically experiences those first episode Understanding “first-episode” is crucial, as intervention during this “cr...

T he article by Velakoulis et al 1 reported the important finding of hippocampal volume reduction in first-episode schizophrenia and interpreted it as evidence in support of a neurodevelopmental model of this disorder. The authors stated that " no [pre-vious] studies have examined the specificity of this finding to first-episode schizophrenia, compared with first-episode affective psychosis. " ...

OBJECTIVES To establish whether writing about experiences of the first episode of psychosis may alleviate trauma-like symptoms among carers of people with psychosis. METHOD A total of 37 people caring for someone with early psychosis were randomized to two conditions: either writing about the first psychotic episode, or writing about time management. Data were collected before and after inter...

Previous work on chronic psychosis patients has suggested that low self-reflectiveness and overconfidence in judgments may be associated with delusions. In the present study we evaluated whether this extends to a first-episode psychosis sample. Thirteen actively delusional and 53 non-delusional participants with a first-episode psychosis completed the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale. Relative to n...