Debate: The prevention of psychosis in child and adolescent mental health services

Child Adolesc Ment Health. 2024 Feb;29(1):107-109. doi: 10.1111/camh.12685. Epub 2023 Nov 29.

Abstract

Psychopathological conditions in adolescence and young adulthood often result from an altered neurodevelopment already phenotypically expressed in childhood. Child and adolescent mental health services are ideally placed to intercept in the developmental trajectories of younger adolescents and contribute to the early detection of a risk for psychosis, as proposed by Salazar de Pablo and Arango (2023, Child and Adolescent Mental Health), opening a debate to which we contribute. The early detection of a specific risk for psychosis and of a broader risk for severe mental illness requires an understanding of the clinical staging of psychosis, neurodevelopmental antecedents of severe mental illness and of heterotypic trajectories between childhood phenotypes and adult disorders.

Keywords: Psychosis; child and adolescent mental health services; clinical high risk for psychosis; heterotypic trajectories; neurodevelopmental antecedents.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Health
  • Adolescent Health Services*
  • Child
  • Humans
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health Services*
  • Psychotic Disorders* / therapy