Reported psychotic-like experiences in adolescence in general outpatient clinics and the determination of a cut-off point at the Prodromal questionnaire.

The development of early signs of psychosis is diverse and inconsistent.
Longitudinal research has demonstrated early psychotic like experiences (PLEs)
to be predictive for psychoses in later age. The importance of early
intervention to prevent or postpone transition to psychosis has been grounded
by several researchers. Still, little is known about which signs in adolescence
are clinically significant in predicting psychosis and the majority of at risk
mental states will not result in clinical psychoses.
Nevertheless a significant proportion of the at-risk population will transition
to psychosis and the population not transitioning experience less overall
functioning. Question that arises is how many adolescents referred for
treatment at a general psychiatric outpatient clinic do report PLEs and which
variables correlate with the prevalence, recovery or continuation and suffering
of PLEs? Another problem is how to detect these adolescents, since research has
demonstrated PLEs and psychosis are often missed by health care professionals.

Primary Objective: The aim of this study is to determine a cut-off score at the
PQ-16 with the CAARMS for better detection of adolescents 12-18 years at risk.

Secondary Objective(s): To study the course of UHR in adolescents 12-18 years
over a one year period.

Better detection of adolescents in need for treatment of PLE*s aims at
goal-oriented healthcare without treating the adolescents who don*t need
treatment.

A. Crossectional study: All new referrals aged 12-18 in three locations
(Rotterdam Brainpark and Twentestraat, Hoogvliet) are asked to complete the
Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16, authorized Dutch translation by Helga Ising,
Marleen Rietveld, Rachel Loewy & Mark van der Gaag). Participants with a score
of 6 and over are interviewed with the CAARMS. A random sample of 50
participants scoring under the cutoff of 6 will also be interviewed with the
CAARMS.
The collected variables are age, gender, level of education, ethnicity, family
history of psychosis, alcohol and drugs misuse, trauma, location of reference,
SOFAS and DSM-IV scores.

B. Longitudinal study: Participants detected with an at risk mental state at
the CAARMS will be followed every three months after giving informed consent.
Participants are interviewed with the first four scales of the CAARMS and the
SOFAS by phone.

NVT