Healthy old subjects were reported to recruit additional brain areas as compared with younger ones, but. this functional change is not, necessarily associated with improved performance. Notes This work was partially supported by grants from the Raul Carrea Institute of Neurological Research, and the Fundaciôn Perez

Companc.

History taken upon the first contact between a psychotic adolescent or young adult and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a mental health professional often reveals subtle deviations from established norms that were present before the psychosis. The realms of the deviations are motor, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral during childhood; social withdrawal and mood and personality changes during adolescence; and attenuated psychotic

symptoms several months to several years before the first treatment contact and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the diagnosis of psychosis(this website Figure 1).1-6The period immediately preceding the onset of psychosis, during which behavior and functioning deteriorates from a stable, “premorbid” level of functioning and behavioral changes occur is referred to as the “prodromal” period. However, the factors that precipitate the transition from premorbid to prodrome or the first incidence of seeking help and the resultant Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical diagnosis are not necessarily distinct illness-related events or behaviors. Figure 1. The lag-time between the first manifestation of schizophrenia in the community and the first treatment contact. Study 1: McGorry et al,11998, Australia; Study 2: Beiser Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical et ai,21993, Canada; Study 3: Loebel et al,31992, USA; Study 4: Hafner et al,41997, … Factors such as the educational level of patients and their families, socioeconomic status, and availability of health care may all determine when the first contact occurs.7,8Also,

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical events such as the sudden unavailability of a caregiver able to maintain a highly symptomatic individual in the community or any change in the threshold of abnormal behavior tolerated by the community can precipitate treatment contact, hospitalization, and diagnosis. Hence, the presence of the premorbid manifestation, the onset of the prodrome, the emergence of the symptoms that define an episode of the illness, and ascertainment of the full syndrome of illness including formal diagnosis do not necessarily coincide the and are not always clearly distinct points in time. Methods employed to investigate the phenomena preceding the first contact for help and the diagnosis of schizophrenia are thehigh-risk method,thebirth cohort method,andhistorical prospective (or follow back) method. High-risk studiesthat followed offspring and siblings of individuals affected by schizophrenia into adulthood have demonstrated that these relatives arc more likely than the general population to be affected by emotional and behavioral abnormalities and abnormal psychophysiological reactions.