Attenuated Psychosis Syndromes Seen Through the Cultural Prism: Relevance, Terminology, and Book Structure

Abstract

Conditions involving threshold symptoms of psychosis vary in their severity and range from single episode, or easily manageable symptoms, to more chronic and debilitating disorders. However, in all cases psychosis has the potential to disrupt the lives of those who experience it—to disrupt social, cognitive, vocational, and psychological functioning; to impact caregivers, family members, and other supports; and to affect society via need for clinical resources and lost productivity. This book presents international perspectives on the identification of those at risk for psychosis, with a particular focus on efforts to intervene in those who may be in the prodromal phase of illness. It examines how culturally linked factors may affect this endeavor, a topic that has to date been vastly understudied. This volume gathers the broadest set of authors on this topic to date in order to broaden the scope of the field at a key time in its growth. It summarizes international research and clinical endeavors that facilitate culturally informed assessment and intervention approaches. This chapter discusses the terminology and structure of this edited book. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)