Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Psychosis describes when a person believes, sees or hears things that are not real. People with illnesses including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder with psychotic features and major depressive disorder with psychotic features can experience psychosis. 

Studies have shown that individuals with psychosis have better long-term outcomes with earlier interventions — that is to say, the sooner you help someone who is experiencing or is at risk of psychosis, the better off they will be in the long-run. Our goal is to help those experiencing warning signs before they ever have an episode.  

• The Clinical Term: Attenuated Psychotic Symptoms (APS) 
• What it means: These resemble the symptoms of psychosis but may be milder and less intense. People might start to see shadows or hear mumbling others do not see or hear. They can still acknowledge that these experiences might not be real, even if they are unsettling. 
• Example: A person might begin to think that others are talking about them or watching them, but they are not fully convinced this is true.  

• The Clinical Term: Brief Limited Intermittent Psychotic Symptoms (BLIPS) 
• What it means: This involves more intense experiences of psychosis, but they are brief (usually lasting less than a week) and go away on their own without treatment. The person may have had an episode of psychosis, but it was short-lived. 
• Example: Imagine someone hearing voices that tell them strange things or believes they are being followed. This episode might last a couple of days, but then the symptoms disappear, and they return to how they were before having these experiences. 

• The Clinical Term: Genetic High Risk with Functional Deterioration (GHR) 
• What it means: Some people may have a genetic risk for psychosis because a close family member (like a parent or sibling) has a psychotic disorder. If someone with this family history begins to struggle with how well they function in their everyday life (e.g., at work or school), they might be at a higher risk of developing psychosis. 
• Example: A teenager whose parent has schizophrenia starts falling behind in school, or losing interest in hobbies or isolating themselves socially. They may not be showing symptoms of psychosis, but their decline in functioning raises concern. 

Our ultimate goal for this program is Early Intervention and Prevention. We are here to support you and your goals. We work with you and your family as a team, to help you make the best decisions for where you want to go and who you want to be. Our program has a range of clinical services and research opportunities that can grow with your needs. 

This Questionnaire is a helpful resource if you suspect you may be experiencing CHR-P or early psychosis. If you answer “YES” to several of these questions, we recommend that you reach out through the referral form at the top of this webpage to learn more about our program. 

CHR-P refers to a set of criteria that researchers have found may increase the risk of having a psychotic episode. This does not necessarily mean that everyone who have some or all of the CHR-P criteria will develop psychosis, but these are warning signs to watch out for.