The British Journal of Psychiatry (2007) 191: 484-492. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.106.033514
© 2007 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Schizotypal cognitions as a predictor of psychopathology in adolescents with mild intellectual impairment

Eve C. Johnstone, FRCPsych, David G. C. Owens, FRCPsych, Peter Hoare, FRCPsych, Sonia Gaur, MD, Michael D. Spencer, MRCPsych, Jonathan Harris, MSc, Andre W Stanfield, MRCPsych, Vivien Moffat, MSc, Norma Brearley, Patrick Miller, PhD, Stephen M. Lawrie, MRCPsych and Walter J. Muir, MRCPsych

Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UK

Correspondence: Professor Eve C. Johnstone, Division of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UK. Email: e.johnstone{at}ed.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background There is evidence to suggest that among young people with mild intellectual disability there are those whose cognitive difficulties may predict the subsequent manifestation of a schizophrenic phenotype. It is suggested that they may be detectable by simple means.

Aims To gain adequate cooperation from educational services, parents and students so as to recruit a sufficiently large sample to test the above hypothesis, and to examine the hypothesis in the light of the findings.

Method The sample was screened with appropriate instruments, and groups hypothesised as being likely or not likely to have the phenotype were compared in terms of psychopathology and neuropsychology.

Results Simple screening methods detect a sample whose psychopathological and neuropsychological profile is consistent with an extended phenotype of schizophrenia.

Conclusions Difficulties experienced by some young people with mild and borderline intellectual disability are associated with enhanced liability to schizophrenia. Clinical methods can both identify those with this extended phenotype and predict those in whom psychosis will occur.


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