Danny Koren1,2, Yair Tzivoni1, Liat Schalit-Cohen1, Josef Parnad3,4; 1University of Haifa, 2Psychiatry Division, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, 3Psychiatric Center, Glostrup-Hvidovre, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Brøndby, Denmark, 4Center for Subjectivity Research, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Aim: The goal of this study was to replicate and extend these pilot findings by examining the long-term persistence of basic self-disturbance (SD) and the degree to which their level in adolescence predicts schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) seven years later in young adulthood. Method: The 7-year stability of SD and their association with later in life SSD were explored in a sample of 40 young adults. SD was assessed with the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE), present and lifetime diagnoses of schizophrenia-spectrum and other co-morbid disorders were assessed with the Operational Criteria (OPCRIT) checklist for psychotic and affective illness in young adulthood. Results: Forty young adults (Mean age=23.7, S.D.=1.3) out of the 82 who had participated seven years earlier in a study on the association between SD and attenuated psychosis symptoms (APS) were available and agreed to participate in the 7-year follow-up. Eight (20%) of the 40 participants in the present study met diagnostic criteria for an SSD. Consistent with our first hypothesis, the correlation between the total EASE score at baseline and 7-year follow-up was moderate and significant (r=0.59, p<.001). Similarly, consistent with our second hypothesis, SD at baseline was a significant predictor of an SSD diagnosis in young adulthood. Conclusions: These results provide further support for the temporal stability of SD over time. In addition, they provide further support for the notion that SD is a phenotypic indicator of risk for SSD.
