Screening for sub-threshold psychotic experiences and perceived need for psychological services

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Mental Health Screening

Background:

• Sub-threshold psychotic experiences (PEs) are prevalent in the general population.
• PEs can increase the risk of psychological distress and psychosis onset.
• Effective community screening instruments are needed to identify individuals at risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess a brief, self-report psychosis risk screening tool's ability to predict the perceived need for psychological treatment in a non-clinical sample.
• To determine if the tool predicts treatment need beyond psychopathology and neuroticism.
• To evaluate the construct validity, predictive validity, and test-retest reliability of the screening tool.

Main Methods:

• A sample of 679 college students completed a brief, self-report questionnaire for screening putative prepsychotic states.
• Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between PEs and the perceived need for psychological services.
• Analyses controlled for neuroticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

Main Results:

• Auditory perceptual disturbances were significantly associated with the perceived need for psychological services.
• Other PEs were not significantly associated with the need for services after controlling for neuroticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.
• The association between other PEs and treatment need was explained by neurotic traits and comorbid symptoms.

Conclusions:

• The psychosis risk screening tool is useful for identifying sub-threshold PEs, especially auditory perceptual disturbances.
• Screening for auditory perceptual disturbances may help identify unmet clinical needs in young adults.
• Other PEs' association with treatment need is largely explained by other psychological factors.