The World Health Organization recommends that treatment for psychosis begin within 3 months of symptom onset. However, dozens of studies worldwide have observed an average delay of 2 years between appearance of psychotic symptoms and treatment initiation. Two meta-analyses and the U.S. Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode-Early Treatment Program have established that duration of untreated psychosis (DUP)—the time from psychosis onset to treatment initiation—is correlated with poor clinical and functional outcomes. Early psychosis treatment programs are increasingly available in the U.S., but many in need are missing this critical opportunity. Accordingly, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) launched a research program to identify sources of early psychosis treatment delay and test practical and innovative strategies for reducing DUP in the U.S. This symposium features findings from a selection of these studies. Steven Lopez will report on the impact of a community-based, multi-level, bilingual psychosis communication campaign for U.S. Latinos on help seeking, DUP and treatment continuation. Vinod Srihari will report findings from the trial of Mindmap—a population-based, multi-element, early psychosis detection campaign—on help seeking and DUP. Cameron Carter will present results from his trial assessing whether adding a novel, technology-enhanced early psychosis screening tool to standard provider education for early psychosis increases early psychosis identification and reduces DUP. Leslie Marino will present findings on a comprehensive set of DUP predictors for nearly 800 individuals enrolled in early psychosis treatment programs. Susan Azrin will discuss these findings and implications for developing practical DUP reduction strategies.
