The impact of premorbid adjustment, neurocognition, and depression on social and role functioning in patients in an early psychosis treatment program.

OBJECTIVE: Functional impairments are debilitating concomitants of psychotic disorders and are present early in the illness course and, commonly, prior to psychosis onset. The factors affecting social and role functioning in early psychosis (EP) following treatment are unclear. We evaluated whether six months of participation in the PREP(R), Boston, EP treatment program, part of a public-academic community mental health center, was related to improvements in social and role functioning and whether premorbid adjustment in adolescence, baseline neurocognition, and depression symptoms predicted functional improvement. METHOD: The Global Functioning Social and Role scales, MATRICS neurocognitive battery, and Calgary Depression Scale were assessed at baseline and six months during naturalistic treatment, while premorbid adjustment was measured at baseline. All participants were psychotic disorder patients in PREP(R) (n = 46 with social functioning and 47 with role functioning measures at both time points). RESULTS: Large improvements were observed in role functioning (d = 0.84) and medium to large improvements were observed in social functioning (d = 0.70). Models consisting of adolescent premorbid adjustment and change in depression symptoms predicted social and role functioning change, whereas neuropsychological functioning did not. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial improvements in social and role functioning were observed among this sample participating in a recovery-based EP program. The impact of clinical factors on social and role functioning was highlighted. Further studies of premorbid adjustment in adolescence and the treatment of depression in EP programs in controlled treatment trials are needed to confirm these findings.

Prevention and recovery in early psychosis (PREP(®)): building a public-academic partnership program in Massachusetts, United States.

Recently, there has been increasing emphasis on early intervention (EI) for psychotic disorders. EI programs in public mental health settings have been established in countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. However, there are relatively few EI programs in the United States (U.S.). Here we describe the conceptual origins and practical development of the PREP program, i.e., Prevention and Recovery in Early Psychosis, as it evolved in a public academic psychiatry setting in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. PREP developed over a decade through a partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and academic institutions within the Harvard Department of Psychiatry. We discuss the evolution, programmatic features, funding mechanisms, staffing, and the role of clinical training in PREP. The key principles in developing the PREP Program include the focus on early, evidence based, person-centered and phase-specific, integrated and continuous, comprehensive care. This program has served as a foundation for the emergence of related services at our institution, including a research clinic treating those at clinical high risk or within the putative "prodromal" period preceding frank psychosis. This account offers one possible blueprint for the development of EI programs despite the lack in the U.S. of a national mandate for EI or prevention-based mental health programs.