Positive psychotic symptoms as a marker of clinical severity in a transdiagnostic sample of help-seeking adolescents

AbstractThe present study aimed to examine the association between the presence, number, and type of positive psychotic symptoms (PPS) and clinical severity in adolescent patients. Five hundred-six patients aged 11 –17 years were assigned to either the noPPS (n = 341), the delusional beliefs only (del; n = 32), the hallucinations only (hall; n = 80), or the delusional beliefs and hallucinations (del&hall; n  = 53) group. Generalized Structural Equation Modeling was applied to identify the best-fitting model representing clinical severity indicated by psychiatric diagnoses, depressivity, personality pathology, non-suicidal self-injury, suicide attempts, perceived stress, and psychosocial impairments , assessed by interviews and questionnaires. The groups were compared concerning the final model’s factors. The final model consisted of three factors representing psychopathology and functional impairments, self-harming behavior, and perceived stress (BIC difference to reference model: 103.99). P articipants with any PPS scored higher on all factors than the noPPS group (differences in SD: 0.49–1.48). Additionally, the del&hall group scored 1.31 SD higher on psychopathology and functional impairments than the hall group, and 1.16 SD higher on self-harming behavior compared to the del group. Finally, the hall group scored 0.84 SD higher on self-harming behavior than the del group, with no group differences in the other factors. In adolescent patients,...
Source: European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research