Abstract
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the prevention of psychotic disorders: identification of population group at high-risk for schizophrenia and treatment intervention before the onset of symptoms. There are numerous non-specific markers distinguishing people at risk; e.g., neuropsychological deficits, or structural and functional brain abnormalities.
On the other hand, it should be noted that psychotic symptoms can be detected in normal, non-psychiatric population. The first controlled treatment trials assessing effects of cognitive therapy, atypical antipsychotics in preventing psychosis onset in ultra-high risk population are currently running.
Despite the ethical and methodological problems, there is a concesnus on the contribution of early treatment intervention in reducting severe impact of illness