Symptom mechanisms and outcomes in early psychosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying psychotic symptoms and outcomes in early psychosis
IRAS ID
326281
Contact name
Paul Fletcher
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The Clinical-High Risk of Psychosis (CHR) syndrome describes individuals who experience changes in mood or thinking, such as unusual beliefs, perceptions, lack of motivation, disorganised thinking and speaking and may be at a higher risk of developing a psychotic illness. The people in this clinical-high risk population vary a lot in the types of symptoms that they have, and how their illness progresses in the future. It is estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 individuals in this group develop a frank psychotic illness, others develop different mental health problems, or recover completely. The reasons for these different outcomes are not understood. One theory that explains symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions in psychosis suggests that the brain constantly predicts what we perceive, and psychosis symptoms may arise because the predictions and sensory inputs from the environment are not optimally balanced. However, it is not know where exactly this imbalance lies and how it links to experiences of people at clinical-high risk or first-episode psychosis, and the changes in their symptoms in the future. The present project aims to address this knowledge gap.
To achieve this, the project will aim to recruit 30 people at clinical-high risk of psychosis and 30 individuals who have experienced their first psychotic episode. We will also recruit 30 healthy volunteers to aid the interpretability of our findings. The participants will be asked to complete three computerised tasks aiming to understand how they process information, followed by clinical interviews and assessments aimed to assess a variety of different symptoms common in these populations. The participants will be followed up 12 months later to assess how their symptoms have changed.REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SW/0118
Date of REC Opinion
24 Oct 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion