WHAT IS EARLY PSYCHOSIS

The vision is for every adolescent and young adult at risk for psychosis to have access to early screening, assessment, and specialized treatment, including early psychosis services and consultation.

Psychosis or Schizophrenia is a mental illness that is extremely stigmatized and deeply misunderstood by the average person.

What Schizophrenia is NOT:

“Multiple personalities,” which is an entirely different disorder called Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID.

Something that causes someone to be evil, immoral, or violent at any higher rate than any other person. In fact, individuals with schizophrenia are more likely to experience violence or exploitation AGAINST them than perpetuate it on someone else.

Scary. Schizophrenia and other psychotic spectrum disorders are merely an expression of the human experience, which is actually much more common than people would think.

What schizophrenia IS:

One of a spectrum of disorders that include psychosis.

What is psychosis? Psychosis is a cluster of certain experiences that mental health professionals call “symptoms,” which are divided into two categories: negative symptoms and positive symptoms. These labels confuse some people but merely mean the absence of something (negative symptoms) or the addition of something (positive symptoms). Negative symptoms include difficulty with motivation, increased energy, and emotional flatness. Positive symptoms are the experiences of reality that differ from most folks, including hearing voices, seeing things (auditory and visual hallucinations), and unusual beliefs (delusions).

Psychotic spectrum disorders have historically been debilitating for those who experience them, especially before we had effective medications for treatment. However, even the medications we have are incredibly powerful and can, over time, cause debilitating medical conditions such as tremors, metabolism, and neurological disorders. The medications also do not address the negative symptoms, which most individuals with psychotic disorders report are far more debilitating than the positive symptoms. Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders also historically have a challenging long-term prognosis, including high rates of homelessness, criminal system involvement, and suicidality.

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THERE IS HOPE!

In recent decades, the clinical world has made incredible breakthroughs regarding psychotic spectrum disorders, allowing us to detect adolescents and young adults who are at risk and in the very early stages of the process. Historically, mental health professionals believed that psychotic disorders did not emerge until early adulthood. However, we now know that there are indications, vulnerabilities, and symptoms we can use to detect psychosis as early as age 12. Early intervention aims to mitigate or even prevent these outcomes BEFORE an individual's first psychotic break. Early detection and prevention programs include specialized assessment, consultation, and psychosis treatment for adolescents as young as 12 through 30 with complex clinical presentations.

Currently, with the support of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and SAMHSA, we are offering mental health workshops to professionals who regularly come into contact with youth exhibiting complex clinical presentations, teaching them how to identify those at clinical high risk for psychosis. We will also provide a brief and free assessment measure (21 items) that you can easily administer to adolescents you work with to determine if they should be referred for a more in-depth official assessment called the SIPS, either through our organization or a local organization near you. The SIPS provides detailed clinical data, which will be shared with the individual, their family, and treatment team through a consultation as part of the assessment.