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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Schizophrenia
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1314920
This article is part of the Research Topic Markers of Clinical Significance and Treatment-seeking of Psychotic Experiences in Non-clinical Populations: Potential Resilience & Risk factors View all 5 articles

The daily association between positive affect and psychotic experiences in individuals along the early stages of the psychosis continuum

Provisionally accepted
Sara Van Der Tuin Sara Van Der Tuin 1*Lorna Staines Lorna Staines 2Larisa Morosan Larisa Morosan 1Esdras Raposo de Almeida Esdras Raposo de Almeida 1David van den Berg David van den Berg 3Sanne Booij Sanne Booij 1Albertine J. Oldehinkel Albertine J. Oldehinkel 1Johanna T. Wigman Johanna T. Wigman 1
  • 1 University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
  • 2 Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
  • 3 VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Psychosis often develops gradually along a continuum of severity. Little is known about the role of protective factors as positive affect (PA) in the development of psychotic experiences (PEs). This study investigated (i) the temporal (between-day) and contemporaneous (within-day) daily associations between PA and PEs in individuals at different early clinical stages for psychosis and (ii) whether these associations differed per clinical stage.Methods: Daily diary data of 90 days came from 96 individuals at risk for psychosis, distributed over four subgroups defined according to the clinical staging model (stages 0-1b). Multilevel models were constructed with PA as predictor of PEs and vice versa. We investigated within-and between-person temporal and contemporaneous associations, and tested whether these associations differed among early stages with multilevel moderation analyses.Results: We found no within-person temporal effects between PA and PEs in either direction. Contemporaneously, current day PA predicted current day PEs (B=-0.14, p<0.001) and vice versa (B=-0.61, p<0.001). Between persons, more 90-day PA predicted less PEs in the temporal model (B=-0.14, p=0.03). In addition, more 90-day PEs predicted PA in the temporal (B=-0.26, p<0.001) and contemporaneous (B=-0.36, p<0.001) model. The contemporaneous association between PA and PEs was stronger in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis than in earlier stages.Discussion: Our study supported a significant within-day, bi-directional relationship between PA and PEs. This suggests that a focus on PA and methods to improve PA might be an important addition to early intervention practices, particularly in those at UHR for psychosis. * Significant difference p < 0.05, ns = not significant, 1 Low = primary education or lower secondary education, Medium = upper secondary education, High = university/college education. Note: for psychotic experiences we noted the median and IQR as the distribution was skewed.

    Keywords: intensive longitudinal data, Protective factors, Clinical Staging, multilevel modeling, Diary data

    Received: 10 Oct 2023; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Van Der Tuin, Staines, Morosan, Raposo de Almeida, van den Berg, Booij, Oldehinkel and Wigman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sara Van Der Tuin, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.