Psychotic-like experiences in community-dwelling young people in hong kong: Preliminary finding from the hong kong youth epidemiological study of mental health (HKYES)

INTRODUCTION: Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are often referred to as psychotic experiences, such as hallucinations and delusions, in the absence of a psychotic disorder. PLEs as part of the continuum of psychosis suggested that healthy population can endorse PLEs without having significant distress or impairment which would warrant them a clinical diagnosis. While PLEs are usually associated with psychotic disorders, previous research has also shown the link between PLEs and many other mood symptoms. OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to identify PLEs in community youths and explore the underlying risk and protective factors. METHODS: This is an ongoing study in which young people aged 15-24 were recruited from community through a random stratified sampling method. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, functioning, and other psychosocial factors were assessed in a face-to-face structured interview. In particular, PLEs were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Screening Scales (CIDI-SC). Six domains of lifetime PLEs were measured, including auditory and visual hallucination, thought insertion/ withdrawal, delusion of control and reference, and persecutory delusions. RESULTS: To date, 746 participants were recruited and of these, 3.2% of them has endorsed lifetime PLEs. Results showed that significantly higher depressive, anxiety and stress scores were found in those who has PLEs (p<0.001), and additionally, these scores significantly predicted the presence of PLEs in regression models (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary findings highlighted the inter-related phenomena between PLEs and mood symptoms. Further investigation is needed to examine the likelihood of PLEs in predicting psychosis over time.