Family-Focused Therapy for Individuals at High Clinical Risk for Psychosis: A Confirmatory Efficacy Trial

Prior treatment

• Unwilling or unable to taper individual therapy to monthly by start of treatment

Other illness

• Current or lifetime Axis 1 psychotic disorder by DSM-5 criteria
• Past or current history of a clinically significant medical or central nervous system disorder that may contribute to CHR symptoms or confound assessment
• Severe substance or alcohol use disorder within the past 6 months, and/or substance use (including cannabis) is causally related to recent onset of CHR symptoms so as to confound prodromal diagnostic determination.
  • If either an exclusionary medical condition or an incidental medical condition is suspected, the participant will be advised to consult with their physician or will be referred to a specialist. Eligibility for the trial will be reconsidered if the medical condition has been treated to remission and the subject still meets CHR criteria.

Other

• Impaired intellectual functioning (IQ\<70)

• Participants must be able to understand and sign an informed consent (or assent for minors) document in English;
• Youth has at least one parent or legal guardian who participants sees often enough (minimum 4 hours/week) that family intervention is sensible, who is English-speaking, and who consents to study participation and treatment sessions; and
• Youth currently meets criteria for clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis, with attenuated positive symptoms that have begun or worsened in the past 12 months, genetic risk and deterioration, or brief intermittent psychotic symptoms. Eligible participants may meet DSM-5 criteria for any non-psychotic disorder (e.g. major depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD), as long as the disorder does not clearly account for the presence of psychosis risk symptoms.