Adolescence and severe psychopathology

The dataset of our recently concluded cases series on adolescents with prominent schizotypal traits is available on OSF. In the study we extended the clinical utility of Evolutionary Systems Therapy for Schizotypy (ESTS) by applaying it in treating five adolescents diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder.

The results were encouraging: 4 out of five remitted from diagnosis at the end of the 6-month intervention and all the adolescents reported reliable changes in symptomatology.

Personality pathology in adolscence is an understudied area of psychotherapy, even if researchers are publishing more and more studies on that. We know that personality and its disorders emerge during adolescence, but the “straighforward” approach to psychiatry seemingly generates a paradox by not allowing a diagnosis in adolescence!