An algorithm to predict psychotic illnesses

Schematic representation of longitudinal network analyses applied to developmental psychiatry. Networks are reconstructed by calculating correlations between different symptoms, both at each assessment and over time. This allows the risk of developing a psychotic disorder in adolescence to be estimated and the most important targets for treatment to be identified. UNIGE - Teams from the UNIGE and EPFL have used for the first time the method of longitudinal network analysis applied to children, in order to detect the symptoms that herald the development of psychotic illness in the future. One third of children with a microdeletion of chromosome 22 will later develop a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia. But how do we know which of these children might be affected? Today, various studies have contributed to the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms that are associated with the development of psychotic illnesses. The problem is that the ability to identify those at risk and adapt their treatment accordingly remains limited.