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Abstract: Backgrounds: It still remains unclear whether individuals who experience attenuated psychotic symptoms are likely to seek help, whereas depressive symptoms are more likely to be associated with help-seeking behavior than these symptoms themselves. The aims of our study were to compare the profile of these symptoms between clinical and community samples and to investigate to what extent help-seeking behavior depends on the severity of psychosis-like symptoms and/or depressive symptoms. Methods: The clinical sample consisted of help-seeking outpatients aged 16–30years who had approached a community mental health clinic (N=750, mean age: 23.3±4.2years, 62.4% females). The community sample was comprised of students from two universities and two high schools (N=781, mean age: 18.1±1.7years, 59.2% females). Psychosis-like experiences were assessed using the PRIME Screen-Revised (PS-R), a self-reported screening instrument for assessing the risk of psychosis. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS), a 20-item self-reported questionnaire. Results: Among the clinical and community samples, 27% and 10% had positive PS-R results respectively. No significant difference in the PS-R total score or the frequency of PS-R-positive items was observed between the clinical and community samples. A logistic regression analysis revealed that none of the psychosis-like experiences were significantly associated with help-seeking behavior, after controlling for the effect of depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings showed that attenuated psychotic symptoms do not contribute significantly to help-seeking behavior, suggesting that the relationships among PLEs, depressive symptoms, and help-seeking behavior should be reconsidered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: : Early intervention for psychosis requires an easy, useful assessment instrument to identify subjects with prodromal symptoms at an early stage. The aim of this study was to test the clinical validity of the PRIME Screen—Revised (PS-R), a 12-item self-reported instrument for prodromal symptoms of psychosis, by comparing the results for a non-clinical population with those for a clinical population. Method: : The PS-R was administered to 1024 subjects (496 students and 528 outpatients). Of the 528 patients, 115 were randomly recruited and tested using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) to determine the concordant validity of the PS-R. The predictive validity of the PS-R was measured by determining the transition rate to psychosis during a 6-month follow-up period. Results: : The specificity and sensitivity of the PS-R, using the SIPS as a gold standard, were 0.74 and 1.00. The concordant validity of the PS-R against the SIPS was 0.43. The predictive validity of the PS-R and the SIPS, defined as the transition rate to psychosis, were 0.11 and 0.25, respectively. None of the patients with negative PS-R results developed psychosis. Conclusions: : Our findings showed that the PS-R was highly valid and that its usage is feasible in both general practice and clinical settings. This self-reported instrument represents a useful screening tool for alerting clinicians to subjects with psychotic prodromal symptoms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]