Beyond ultra high risk for Psychosis: The basic symptoms criteria

Basic symptoms (BS) are subtle, self-experienced disturbances in mental processes and central components of the psychopathology of psychoses. A subset of cognitive BS (i.e. “Cognitive Disturbances”, COGDIS) was associated with higher transition rates to psychosis than the ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria over follow-ups of three years or longer . Recommendations for the early detection of psychosis therefore emphasize the clinical utility of COGDIS.

Yet, reliably identifying BS requires specific psychopathological competence. COGDIS has also been associated with a brain signature based on structural MRI data that could also identify schizophrenia patients; this further supporting its usefulness for the detection of a high risk for psychosis.

Therefore, this course, an integral part of the educational framework of the EPA Section for Prevention of Mental Disorders, is designed as a clinically oriented implementation of the EPA Guidance project on the early detection of clinical high-risk of psychosis.

The course is intended for a broad, interprofessional audience across the career continuum in all care settings (i.e. children and adolescent, and adult psychiatry and psychology) interested in the early detection of psychosis. It is also intended for neuroscientists and research-oriented clinicians interested in the neurobiological correlates of psychoses and their clinical high-risk states.

Course Directors: Prof. Frauke Schultze-Lutter, Germany and Andrea Raballo, Italy