9th International Conference on Early Psychosis, Tokyo 2014 - Liberiamo il futuro: first results of an Italian early detection project

Abstract

Background: Psychotic-Like Experiences (PLEs) are common in young individuals but they are mostly transitory. They become progressively predictive of diagnosable psychopathology with increasing age.
Objective: The aims of the present study were to analyse the structure and the prevalence of Attenuated Psychotic-Like Experiences (APLEs) and their association with age, functioning and psychopathology. 
Results: At least one APLE was reported by 98% of the sample. An association was found between higher Perceptual Abnormalities (PA) and the ages of 11-12 years.
Conclusions: The high prevalence of perception-related phenomena in younger individuals should be the subject of further studies. There is a need to differentiate true pathological hallucinatory experiences from normal, reactive and transient perceptual abnormalities. An important contribution to this field comes from psychopathological reflections on hallucination by Massimo Fagioli, author of the Human Birth Theory.