"Prodromal symptoms" refers to the early warning signs or symptoms that come before a more serious condition or illness. These symptoms often indicate that something is wrong and may help predict what the person is about to experience.
Full definition
Although many elements of the reported patterns
of prodromal symptoms and risk factors have been identified previously, the study increases confidence that they are related to the later occurrence of BD.
21 weekly sessions of group psychoeducation (
identifying prodromal symptoms and encouraging adherence to treatment and a regular lifestyle), compared with unstructured group sessions.
What are the effects of early detection, phase - specific treatments and specialised early intervention teams for people
with prodromal symptoms or first - episode psychosis?
According to a nationwide study of 291 patients coordinated by the NIMH,
prodromal symptoms predict the onset of psychosis 35 percent of the time, which is comparable with the prediction rate for type 2 diabetes.
This hypothesis might help explain
why prodromal symptoms occur: As connections between neurons dwindle, prodromal patients might lose, for example, the ability to filter out irrelevant sensations, which then flood the brain without any processing.
According to Anthony Lehman, chairman of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, «The real value here is that the program is bolstering public awareness
about prodromal symptoms, and it's providing venues for kids and their families who have these problems to get help.»
Targeting cognitive behaviour therapy to people with schizophrenia
whose prodromal symptoms increase, may reduce relapse rates and hospital admission compared with usual care.
With further study, the patterns
of prodromal symptoms and risk factors may lead to new approaches to identifying young persons who are likely to develop BD, and might benefit from early treatment.
OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science QUESTION: Does cognitive behavioural therapy prevent relapse of schizophrenia compared with usual care in people
with prodromal symptoms?
The authors reviewed and analyzed data from 39 studies of
prodromal symptoms and risk factors for later development of BD.
The heterotypic pattern consisted of other types of
prodromal symptoms, such as early anxiety and disorders of attention or behavior.
But Robert Heinssen, who is chief of the Adult Treatment and Preventive Intervention Research Branch at the NIMH and who led the study, claims that
prodromal symptoms, when considered in the context of a full medical history, can produce a much more accurate prediction.
The treatment tested in this study combines 3 interventions that have shown some efficacy individually: early detection of
prodromal symptoms, 4 enhancement of treatment compliance, 12 and induction of lifestyle regularity, 13 in a structured group intervention for euthymic bipolar outpatients receiving standard pharmacologic treatment.
All of these interventions share an emphasis on psychoeducation and self monitoring in order to increase medication adherence and identify
the prodromal symptoms of relapse.