Keywords: Psychotic and related disorder; Neuroimaging; Precision psychiatry; Neurobiology
 

"On the bumpy road of psychotic disorders: Paving new avenues for personalized treatment approaches by examining neurochemical changes in psychosis and related disorders"

The challenges in the treatment of psychotic and related disorders have a lot of similarities with a bumpy road. For 25-33% of all patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder, it is difficult to find effective medication. This results in extended treatment trajectories, the discouragement of patients, and high societal costs. Therefore, providing patients with effective treatment sooner might improve these negative consequences and might also be beneficial for the long waiting times for psychiatric care, the high workload for psychiatric care providers, and increase the cost-effectiveness of treatments.

But how can we improve the treatment of psychotic and related disorders? One possibility might be through the use of prediction models. These models could, based on information provided by the clinician and/or patient, predict the likelihood that a particular intervention will be effective. The clinician could then use this information to make patient-specific decisions about intervention strategies. So far, it remains unclear what information can best be used as input for such prediction models. Information about neurochemical processes might be useful for this purpose.

This dissertation, therefore, explores different neurobiological processes in individuals with psychotic disorders, as well as, individuals with an increased risk of developing these disorders, in particular those with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

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