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The article presents a study which discusses the use of evidence-based health care in the early intervention in psychosis. It mentions that the research focuses on the early stage of the disorder which identifies the two classes of patients which include those who have an essentially trivial problem and the other who have a hard time coping up with the disease despite treatments. It affirms that the creation of early psychosis models has been a significant factor in the treatment of the disease.

Background. Little research has focused on delineating the specific predictors of emotional over-involvement (EOI) and critical comments (CC) in the early course of psychosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential relationships of EOI and CC with relevant predictors in relatives of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients. Method. Baseline patient-related factors including psychotic symptoms, depression and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and carer attributes comprising CC, EOI, burden of care and carers' stress and depression were assessed in a cohort of 63 remitted FEP patients and their relatives. Carers were reassessed at 7 months follow-up. Results. Baseline analysis showed that EOI was more strongly correlated with family stress compared with CC, whereas CC yielded a stronger association with DUP than EOI. Carers' CC at follow-up was not significantly predicted by either baseline family stress, burden of care or patient-related variables. Conversely, baseline EOI predicted both family stress and burden of care at 7 months follow-up. Finally, family burden of care at follow-up was a function of baseline EOI and patients' depressive symptoms. Conclusions. This study provides preliminary support to the postulate that EOI and CC may be influenced by separate factors early in the course of psychosis and warrant future research and therapeutic interventions as separate constructs. Implications for family interventions in the early phase of psychosis and the prevention of CC and EOI are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Individuals at Ultra High Risk (UHR) for psychosis typically present with attenuated psychotic symptoms. However it is difficult to predict which individuals will later develop frank psychosis when their mental state is rated in terms of individual symptoms. The objective of the study was to examine the phenomenological structure of the UHR mental state and identify symptom profiles that predict later transition to psychosis. Method: Psychopathological data from a large sample of UHR subjects were analysed using latent class cluster analysis. A total of 318 individuals with a UHR for psychosis. Data were collected from two specialised community mental health services for people at UHR for psychosis: OASIS in London and PACE, in Melbourne. Results: Latent class cluster analysis produced 4 classes: Class 1 - Mild was characterized by lower scores on all the CAARMS items. Subjects in Class 2 - Moderate scored moderately on all CAARMS items and was more likely to be in employment. Those in Class 3 - Moderate-Severe scored moderately-severe on negative symptoms, social isolation and impaired role functioning. Class 4 - Severe was the smallest group and was associated with the most impairment: subjects in this class scored highest on all items of the CAARMS, had the lowest GAF score and were more likely to be unemployed. This group was also characterized by the highest transition rate (41%). Conclusions: Different constellations of symptomatology are associates with varying levels of risk to of transition to psychosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]