title: Clinical correlates of distorted auditory perception in first-episode psychosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Auditory hallucinations are hypothesized to be based in distorted sensory perceptions, with increasingly distorted perceptions of reality possibly prompting the first psychotic phase of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Our goal was to examine the association between distorted auditory perceptions and psychotic symptomatology, social functioning and quality of life among individuals with first-episode psychosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty individuals with first-episode psychosis completed assessments of distorted auditory perception, psychotic symptomatology, social functioning and quality of life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both negative (greater symptomatology) and positive clinical correlates (better quality of life) were associated with greater distorted auditory perceptions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that distorted auditory perceptions are associated with both positive and negative clinical correlates among individuals with first-episode psychosis. These results highlight the potential clinical importance of balancing the goal of symptomatic reduction with the need to maintain healthy coping strategies that may be biologically and psychologically entwined with the symptoms of psychosis, themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morenz
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Woolverton
authors.forename: R Brock
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: Nicole A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kiewel
authors.forename: Nicholas J K
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Breitborde
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012917:Social Adjustment; D063189:Symptom Assessment; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: first-episode psychosis; hallucination