Summary
background In psychotic disorders it is the stage of development of the disease which mainly determines the prognosis and the effectiveness of treatment.
aim To describe and to refine the current staging and profiling of psychotic disorders and to propose a way in which to describe the course of dimensions of psychoses.
method We searched the literature for articles relating to the staging of psychotic disorders.
results McGorry e.a. developed a simple classification into stages which is currently applicable to research and clinical practice. We propose a further refinement in the form of a graph from which one can see in a glance the history of clinically relevant variation.
conclusion Research into the prodromal stages of diseases is needed in order to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms that the stages have in common and to reveal the pathways of differential development.