Does daily stress and coping affect clinical outcome in the ultra high risk for psychosis population?
Researchers have hypothesised that stress plays an important role in the onset and maintenance of psychotic disorders. The ultra high risk (UHR) for psychosis population is a valuable population in which to investigate the relationship between these variables. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) is an ecologically valid method of assessing daily stress and coping. The current study will involve assessing stress and coping using the ESM in a UHR population involved in a clinical trial of fish oil versus placebo. It is hypothesized that: i) higher stress and poorer coping will be associated with worse symptomatic and functional outcome and ii) UHR patients taking fish oil will show reduced stress-sensitivity over time than UHR patients on placebo.
