© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Drugs & Alcohol Research Programme, Research Development & Statistics Directorate, Home Office, London
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London
National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London
University of Leicester, Section of Social and Epidemiological Psychiatry, Department of Health Sciences, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester
Royal Free and University College Medical School, Department of Mental Health Sciences, London
WHO Collaborating Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Office for National Statistics, London
Correspondence: Dr L.C. Johns, PO67 Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. E-mail: ljohns{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk
Background The psychosis phenotype is generally thought of as a categorical entity. However, there is increasing evidence that psychosis exists in the population as a continuum of severity rather than an all-or-none phenomenon.
Aims To investigate the prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms using data from the 2000 British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity.
Method A total of 8580 respondents aged 16–74 years were interviewed. Questions covered mental health, physical health, substance use, life events and socio-demographic variables. The Psychosis Screening Questionnaire (PSQ) was used to identify psychotic symptoms.
Results Of the respondents, 5.5% endorsed one or more items on the PSQ. Factors independently associated with psychotic symptoms were cannabis dependence, alcohol dependence, victimisation, recent stressful life events, lower intellectual ability and neurotic symptoms. Male gender was associated with paranoid thoughts, whereas female gender predicted hallucinatory experiences.
Conclusions Self-reported psychotic symptoms are less common in this study than reported elsewhere, because of the measure used. These symptoms have demographic and clinical correlates similar to clinical psychosis.
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BJP 2004 185: 277-a15.[Full Text]
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