A Population-Based Cohort Study Examining the Incidence and Impact of Psychotic Experiences From Childhood to Adulthood, and Prediction of Psychotic Disorder

What is it about?

No previous studies have assessed psychotic experiences such as hearing voices and paranoid beliefs at multiple time-points from childhood through adolescence and early adulthood using clinical-like interviews. In this study we show that the new onset of psychotic experiences rises from age 13 to age 24, peaking in late adolescence. We also show that it is possible to use measures of psychotic experiences in adolescence to predict who is most likely to have a psychotic disorder at age 24. However, as we make the measures stricter to improve their prediction, we capture fewer of those who eventually develop a psychotic disorder.

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