IEPA 11

Kristen A Woodberry1,2, Kelsey Johnson1, Sarah Lynch3, Anna Cloutier3, Douglas Robbins3; 1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 2Harvard Medical School, 3Maine Medical Center
           
The majority of major mental illnesses emerge between ages 15 and 24. Yet initial symptoms, typically subtle disruptions of both affect and thought, are precursors of a range of serious disorders including schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, borderline personality disorders, and severe depression and anxiety. There have been efforts to identify specific symptoms or combinations of symptoms, demographic variables, and biomarkers predictive of later disorder, particularly schizophrenia. However, there has been little research capturing the temporal sequence or variability of affect and unusual thoughts during the early phases of mental illness and across different trajectories. Preliminary experience sampling data from youth ages 15-25 with and without psychotic spectrum disorders will illustrate different patterns of variability in affect and psychosis within and across days and weeks. The author will highlight the potential relevance of different measures of variability (e.g., intensity and valence, positive to negative affect shifts), temporal variations (moment-to-moment, day-to-day, week-to-week), periods of stability and instability, and the temporal sequencing and relationships of affect and psychosis over time. Improving on static predictors of mood and psychotic disorders, dynamic data could transform clinical formulation and treatment planning with high risk youth, leveraging digital data for personalized medicine approaches to early intervention.