THE INFLUENCE OF LIFE EVENTS ON THE SUBSEQUENT COURSE OF PSYCHOTIC ILLNESS - A PROSPECTIVE FOLLOW-UP OF THE CAMBERWELL COLLABORATIVE PSYCHOSIS STUDY

Fifty-nine psychotic patients with acute onset of illness, who had bee n interviewed about their experience of stressful life events before t he episode, were followed up for an average of 42 months. Thirty patie nts (51%) had experienced a stressful life event in the 3 months immed iately before onset (EV+), 29 had not (EV-). In patients with an RDC d iagnosis of affective disorder or unspecified functional psychosis, th e presence of stressful life events was associated subsequently with m ilder symptom severity, less time spent in hospital, more treatment fo r depressive symptoms and less for psychotic symptoms. In schizophreni a, differences were less apparent, but patients with event associated episodes had less need of anti-psychotic maintenance medication over t he follow-up period and tended to have spent more time in complete rem ission. EV+ schizophrenic subjects also had higher morbid risk for sch izophrenia in their first degree relatives, and tended to be female an d to have less typical symptoms than EV- schizophrenic patients.