Is it possible to diagnose a serious mental disorder several years after the first symptoms appear ? If so, what would be the implications both in the clinic and for the person at risk of developing them?

In a recently developed study, speech analysis software was used to try to predict the risk of psychosis . Throughout this article we will talk about this new software that is still under research and development.

What is psychosis?

In the field of psychology and psychiatry, psychosis refers to a state of mental alteration or a serious mental disorder through which the person experiences a loss of contact with reality and a reduction in the normative social functioning.

This disorder refers to a series of serious disorders, in which the person may manifest hallucinations of all kinds, as well as delusions , personality disorders and disorganized thinking and language.

In addition, it is possible that this symptomatology is accompanied by unusual or uncommon behaviors in the person, as well as by problems in establishing and maintaining any type of interaction with other people, even obstructing and hindering the person’s daily life.

It is necessary to emphasize that psychosis is not a single mental disorder; it encompasses any classification of psychiatric conditions known as psychotic disorders. These mental disorders include:

  • Schizophrenia .
  • Delusional disorder.
  • Schizophreniform disorder.
  • Schizoaffective disorder.
  • Shared psychotic disorder.
  • Substance-induced psychotic disorder .
  • Psychotic disorder due to a medical illness

What does this software consist of?

As mentioned above, disorganized thinking is one of the main symptoms of psychosis. This, which is externalised by disorganised patient speech, can be assessed by means of oral clinical interviews with the patient.

This disorganized thinking distinguishes because the patient’s discourse becomes tangential and a loss of the associations of the ideas expressed. Therefore, the patient may manifest a confused and incoherent discourse, besides jumping continuously from one idea to another.

As a result, a study conducted in collaboration with the New York Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center and the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, evaluated and compared the transcripts of a series of interviews conducted with young people at risk of developing psychosis .

During the study, interviews of 34 New York City participants and 59 Los Angeles City participants were evaluated using computer speech analysis software, estimating the onset of psychosis over the next two years.

After analysis of the interviews, it was found that the software was able to correctly differentiate between young people who were at real risk of developing psychosis and those who were not, in most cases.

According to experts in the analysis of people’s pathological behaviour, 1% of the population aged between 14 and 27 is at serious risk of developing a psychosis. These people tend to manifest a symptomatology such as unusual thoughts, tangential speech, alterations of perception and suspicious reactions to other people.

Approximately 20% of this at-risk population will experience a psychotic episode; therefore, early detection accompanied by psychological intervention may help decrease the impact of this episode or even prevent it.

Speech as a key to detection

Within psychology and psychiatry, both language and behaviour provide a great deal of key information in the diagnosis of any type of mental disorder.

In the case of psychoses, the patient’s oral language is a great source of information about what is going on in the person’s mind. It provides important clues about what the person experiences, feels and perceives.

In the study referenced above, patients were asked to narrate their subjective experiences . These conversations were then transcribed and analysed using speech evaluation software.

According to the researchers, this software analysed the expression patterns, semantics and syntax used by the participant. As well as the length of the sentences and the correct use of the words used to link the expressions.

It is necessary to specify that a clinical psychiatrist or mental health professional is able to recognize these signs or symptoms manually, through a face-to-face interview with the patient. However, the development of this software implies an increase in precision by taking into account more variables and in a more rigorous way.

What were the results of the study?

The interviews and their analysis were followed up with the participants over a period of two and a half years.

The examiners who carried out this study found a number of key qualities or traits in the conversations that predicted future mental problems in 83% of the cases .

Specifically, those features of oral language that helped predict the onset of psychosis were alterations in the flow of meaning between sentences. These included shorter than usual sentences with much less elaboration.

Following these results, the researchers hope that thanks to this software , early and reliable detection of those more subtle symptoms can be made, which can appear even many years before the development of the psychotic disorder.

Implications of this software in clinical practice

Within the field of clinical diagnosis within psychology and psychiatry, the possibility of using a computer program that helps and facilitates the early detection of serious mental disorders is very good news.

In this way it will be possible to speed up the work of diagnosis and prognosis of serious mental conditions, and thus design proposals for treatment and early intervention that will reduce the impact of the symptoms. In addition, other advantages that the researchers assign to this software is that this analysis is carried out quickly, safely and with very low economic costs.

However, the researchers themselves warn that this is only a prototype and that it still takes time of research to turn it into a fully reliable diagnostic tool.