Lived Experiences of Negative Symptoms in First-Episode Psychosis: A Qualitative Secondary Analysis

Abstract

Reductions in expression, motivation and sociability are observed across the spectrum of functional psychoses (Lyne et al., 2012). These features consistently coalesce in factor analytic studies (Blanchard & Cohen, 2006) and are collectively referred to as negative symptoms. Negative symptoms are a significant predictor of poor recovery from first-episode psychosis (Austin et al., 2013; Hodgekins et al., 2015; Singh et al., 2000) and are a treatment priority for many service-users (Sterk, Winter van Rossum, Muis, & de Haan, 2013). However, the development of effective treatment options for negative symptoms is hindered by still limited understanding of their underlying mechanisms (Velthorst et al., 2015).