Using the authors' over thirteen years of experience at the psychosis-risk clinic at Yale University School of Medicine, The Psychosis-Risk Syndrome presents a concise handbook that details the diagnostic tools and building blocks that comprise the Structural Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes, or SIPS. Clear and to the point, this volume provides an in-depth description of this new clinical high-risk population, along with instructions on how to use the SIPS to evaluate persons for psychosis-risk. The handbook's main section takes the reader step-by-step through the SIPS evaluation, tracking how patients and families find their way to the clinic, the initial interview, the evaluation process, and the summary session consisting of findings and future options. The core diagnostic symptoms of the SIPS and psychosis-risk states are illustrated with dozens of symptom and case examples drawn from real but disguised patients from the Yale clinic. With an emphasis on clinical usefulness, the handbook finishes with "practice cases" for the reader to test his or her new skills at evaluating clinical populations for psychosis-risk.

This handbook examines state-of-the-art research and clinical findings on attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS) across the globe. It addresses symptoms, assessment methods, and treatment approaches as they differ and converge across countries and cultures. The handbook explores how the illness impairs many aspects of daily functioning, with high rates of suicide and a reduced life span. It details how early detection is critical and may greatly reduce the public health burden of the illness. Chapters describe the early identification and intervention efforts that are currently underway across the world. The book offers international findings from prominent researchers, elaborating culturally relevant illness symptoms, help-seeking behaviors, and assessment and intervention strategies. In addition, chapters illustrate wide variations in symptom expression and experience, reinforcing the necessity of culturally attuned practice in patient-centered care. The book concludes by examining the implications – challenges and opportunities – for future research and clinical practices from an international perspective. Topics featured in the Handbook include: Barriers to service in low-resourced countries. The role of traditional or culturally acceptable care in developing early intervention models. The reliability and validity of tools for assessing and identifying APS. Possible medical diagnoses that can present with APS symptoms and how to differentiate these conditions from APS. /divThe Handbook of Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome Across Cultures is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, and related professionals as well as graduate students in child and school psychology, psychiatry, social work, and related disciplines.

With expert guidance on developing specialty care service models for young people experiencing first-episode psychosis, the book offers a multimodal approach that aims for recovery and remission.

There is abundant evidence showing a strong association between trauma exposure, psychotic symptoms, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Early trauma exposure contributes to the formation of psychotic symptoms and the development of psychotic disorders or severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and treatment-refractory major depression. Furthermore, among persons with psychotic disorders, multiple traumatization over the lifetime is common, due to factors such as social stigma, the criminalization of severe mental illness, and increased vulnerability to interpersonal victimization. In addition to these factors is the traumatic nature of experiencing psychotic symptoms and coercive treatments such as involuntary hospitalization and being placed in seclusion or restraints. Not surprisingly, these high rates of trauma lead to high rates of PTSD in people with psychotic disorders, which are associated with more severe symptoms, worse functioning, and greater use of acute care services. In addition to the impact of trauma on the development of psychotic disorders and comorbid PTSD, traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual and physical abuse can shape the nature of prominent psychotic symptoms such as the content of auditory hallucinations and delusional beliefs. Additionally, traumatic experiences have been implicated in the role of ‘stress responsivity’ and increased risk for transition to psychosis in those identified as being at clinical high risk of developing psychosis. Finally, although the diagnostic criteria for PTSD primarily emphasize the effects of trauma on anxiety, avoidance, physiological over-arousal, and negative thoughts, it is well established that PTSD is frequently accompanied by psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions that cannot be attributed to another DSM-V Axis I disorder such as psychotic depression or schizophrenia. Understanding the contribution of traumatic experiences to the etiology of psychosis and other symptoms can inform the provision of cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis, including the development of a shared formulation of the events leading up to the onset of the disorder, as well as other trauma-informed treatments that address distressing and disabling symptoms associated with trauma and psychosis. Until recently the trauma treatment needs of this population have been neglected, despite the high rates of trauma and PTSD in persons with psychotic disorders, and in spite of substantial gains made in the treatment of PTSD in the general population. Fortunately, progress in recent years has provided encouraging evidence that PTSD can be effectively treated in people with psychotic disorders using interventions adapted from PTSD treatments developed for the general population. In contrast to clinician fears about the untoward effects of trauma-focused treatments on persons with a psychotic disorder, research indicates that post-traumatic disorders can be safely treated, and that participants frequently experience symptom relief and improved functioning. There is a need to develop a better understanding of the interface between trauma, psychosis, and post-traumatic disorder. This Frontiers Research Topic is devoted to research addressing this interface.

Early clinical intervention in psychosis is now a major objective of mental health services and the development of specialist intervention services has greatly facilitated research on the early phases of this disorder. In this book, contributors provide a review of the neurobiological research in people at high risk of psychosis, focusing on the transition from being at a high risk state to their first episode. Contributors consider unaffected family members and twin studies as well as the individual’s data before and after the onset of the illness. The environmental factors that contribute to a psychotic episode are also examined. Vulnerability to Psychosis presents neurobiological findings in the context of what is now known about the psychopathology and cognitive impairments that are evident in people at high risk of psychosis. It will be essential reading for clinicians working with this client group, and will interest academics looking for state of the art information in this field.

This new volume reviews early detection approaches and possible subsequent interventions for psychosis. After introductory chapters, various methods for early detection not only in adults, but also adolescents are described. In this context, the validity of the psychosis high-risk state is debated along with whether early detection is indeed helpful, or actually stigmatizing, for the patient. Further contributions review neuroimaging, including structural and functional MRI, as well as pattern recognition methods and measurement of connectivity abnormalities. Neurocognitive and neurophysiological assessments are also discussed in detail. The last part focuses on early intervention for emerging psychosis, including psychological methods, non-pharmacological substances and pharmacological treatments. Overall conclusions and future perspectives are provided in a final chapter. This book is a state-of-the-art review of current options. It is important reading for researchers and clinicians faced with recognizing and treating psychosis in the most timely and effective manner possible.

Impairments in mentalizing - the capacity to utilize mental state information to understand oneself and others - have consistently been identified across the developmental continuum of psychosis expression, from the premorbid and prodromal stages to its clinical forms. Mentalizing difficulties in psychosis have been investigated using an array of different methodologies, including novel experimental tasks, narrative assessments, self-report measures, as well as neuroscientific and computational methods. These studies have primarily examined how mentalizing disturbances relate to symptom dimensions and functional outcomes in clinical samples, as well as the transition to clinical psychosis among those who are at increased risk. More recently, clinical adaptations of mentalization-based treatments (MBT) and other psychotherapeutic approaches with a focus on supporting people suffering with psychosis reflect on their own and others’ mental states, such as Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), have been reported in the literature.

This volume covers the management of acutely disturbed in-patients, drug and psychosocial approaches to the treatment of schizophrenia, and the problems of comorbid substance misuse and homelessness. It includes chapters on risk and childbirth, psychoses in the elderly, and the special problems of identifying and treating psychiatric disorders in those with learning disability. There is also practical advice on assessing fitness to be interviewed by the police, and on preparing medico-legal reports.