title: Stages of recovery in early psychosis: Associations with symptoms, function, and narrative development.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study sought to explore the links between recovery stages, symptoms, function, and narrative development among individuals with a recent onset of psychosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative longitudinal study was conducted including quantitative data at baseline.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-seven participants were administered the Indiana Psychiatric Illness Interview three times over 9 months and content analysis was performed. Participants also completed the Social Functioning Scale, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale--Expanded, the California Verbal Learning Test, and the Trailing Making Test at baseline. Descriptive discriminant analysis was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results suggested that participants were mostly in the first two stages of recovery (moratorium, awareness) and that being in the awareness, rather than moratorium, stage was associated, to a different extent, with richer narrative development, better levels of psychosocial function, less negative and positive symptoms, and more years of education. Furthermore, recovery appeared to be a stable process over the assessment period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recovery is a complex concept including objective and subjective aspects. In the recovery path of persons recently diagnosed with psychosis, social engagement, narrative development, and occupational functioning seem to be particularly important aspects. This study is a first step, and future research is needed with larger and more diverse participant pools, and assessments conducted over longer periods of time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As greater level of social engagement was the most robust predictor of membership in the awareness versus moratorium stage, treatment of early psychosis should include interventions targeting social relations and social skills. As greater narrative development was the second most robust predictor, enhancing it via psychotherapy could be a pertinent clinical goal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Geneviève
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bourdeau
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lecomte
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Paul H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lysaker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D016272:Occupational Health; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012917:Social Adjustment
keywords: early psychosis; narrative development; recovery; social functioning