Early persistence of psychotic‐like experiences in a community sample of adolescents

Abstract

Aims Psychotic‐like experiences (PLEs) are common in adolescents. Their persistence may confer increased susceptibility to psychotic disorder. The early evolution of transient to persistent PLEs is not well known. This study aimed to investigate the early persistence of PLEs (over 6–12 months) in a community sample of adolescents and examine baseline and longitudinal associations of early persistent PLEs. Methods Five hundred and ninety Year 10 students were administered the community assessment of psychic experiences (CAPE) to measure PLEs at baseline and at follow up 6–12 months later. Persistent PLEs were defined as those present at or above the 90th centile at both time points. Independent variables of depression, psychological distress and functioning were all measured at both baseline and follow up. Self‐esteem, personality and suicidality were assessed at follow up. Results The study found 5.1% of participants had early persistent PLEs. Persistence was associated positively with depression and distress at both time points, neuroticism and openness at baseline and suicidality at follow up. Persistence was negatively associated with functioning at both time points, agreeableness at baseline and self‐esteem at follow‐up. Only depression remained significantly associated at both time points when accounting for other variables. Thus, depressive symptoms may account for changes in other domains and be a predictor of early PLEs persistence. Conclusions These results reinforce the importance of monitoring and assessing PLEs in young people especially when associated with depression. Further research is required to investigate PLE persistence over longer periods with increased measurement intervals.

A Latent Profile Analysis of Psychotic Experiences, Non-psychotic Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation and Underlying Mechanisms in a Sample of Adolescents From the General Population

“…We observed that depression, PTSD symptoms and defeat/entrapment were the variables showing significant differences among classes. Thus, our finding supports the suggestion that depression is one of the most relevant variables to index the clinicopathological risk of the PEs in adolescents ( 19 , 65 ). To our knowledge, this is the first LPA study including PTSD symptoms in an attempt to cluster adolescents reporting PEs.…”

“…The class we labeled as the "high-risk" class showed the highest scores in all psychiatric symptoms, suicidal ideation and emotional/cognitive domains, except in cognitive reappraisal. The relatively small percentage observed for this class (7.76%) is similar to the lower prevalence previously reported for those classes with the most severe and persistent PE in the general population (64)(65)(66)(67), and resembles the group labeled as "high psychosis liability" by Luca-Molina et al (31). The finding of this class supports literature showing that a higher intensity of PEs is related to a higher number of overall symptoms (68), suicidal related behaviors (69), psychological distress (70), and emotional dysregulation processes (46,71) in some individuals.…”

The effects of peer bullying and poverty on suicidality in Chinese left behind adolescents: The mediating role of psychotic‐like experiences

“…A lifetime history of PLE subtypes has provided some unique contributions to the prediction of SI, suicide plans, and SAs in young adults (Capra et al, 2015). In prospective adolescent sample cohort studies, PLEs have been found to predict suicidality (Hafeez & Yung, 2021), self-harm (Martin et al, 2015), SI (Kelleher et al, 2014), and SAs (Kelleher et al, 2013a). Therefore, as suicide appears to result from the interactions between distal trauma and proximal mental illness, PLEs may act as mediators between adverse life events and suicidal behaviour (Gawęda et al, 2020;Park et al, 2015).…”

Urinary exosomal microRNAs as predictive biomarkers for persistent psychotic-like experiences

“…PLE symptoms are not always accompanied by illnesses or distress, and the same is true for persistent PLE 4 . However, persistence of PLEs is known to increase susceptibility to psychotic disorders and elevate the risk of schizophrenia, depression, and suicidal tendencies 4,[12][13][14][15] . In particular, persistent and distressing PLEs show poor psychopathological prognoses later in life 16 .…”