Caarms Scale
Caarms Scale
Caarms Scale
assessment
RudoIf CardinaI
rudolf@pobox.com
Clinical Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
Honorary SpR, Liaison Psychiatry, CPFT, Addenbrooke's
Cambridge MRCPsych course
da Darwin Hospital, Fulbourn
3.504.40pm, Tue 21 Feb 2012
Early intervention
Executive summary
The hope is that early intervention |in psychosis| (EI) reduces DUP, and that
this improves the overall outcome Ior patients.
EI is distinct Irom standard care in two ways: (1) early detection; (2) treatment
speciIic to the early phase.
There has been strong governmental and NICE support Ior EI services.
Why?
Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide (2001): set out tasks Ior early
intervention services, including
and working across the traditional divide between child and adolescent
services and adult services as well as in partnership with primary care,
education, social services, youth and other services.
Dept of Health (2011): 'We... know that taking the right action through early
intervention can make a long-lasting diIIerence to people`s lives... we will...
prioritise early intervention across all ages.
Early intervention: NCE guidance on schizophrenia
NICE (2009): 'Offer early intervention services to all people with a first
episode or first presentation of psychosis, irrespective oI the person`s age or
the duration oI untreated psychosis. ReIerral to early intervention services may
be Irom primary or secondary care. Early intervention services should aim to
provide a full range of relevant pharmacological, psychological, social,
occupational and educational interventions for people with psychosis,
consistent with this guideline.
What is an E service intended to achieve? (DH 2001)
What does an E service look like? (DoH 2001) (1)
For population 1 million: ~150 new cases/year; ~450 caseload total; divided into
teams with caseload 120150. One team looks like:
What does an E service look like? (DoH 2001) (2)
What does an E service do? (DoH 2001) 1: general
leaving study early: Iewer people leIt in the specialized team group
attempted suicide: NS
There are other criteria Ior the prodrome; one set (Ior ~psychosis risk
syndrome) is proposed in the draIt DSM-V.
Early study: sensitivity 8392 and speciIicity 6274 Ior predicting the
development oI (Iull-blown) psychosis (e.g. Yung et al. 2003, 2005, 2006).
No established methods.
Establishing the presence and nature oI psychosis (and any other symptoms).
(Historv, collateral, MSE.) Consider rating scales (such as BPRS, PANSS,
SAPS/SANS).
I should like to ask you a routine question which we ask oI everybody. Do you
ever seem to hear noises or voices when there is no one about, and nothing else
to explain it?
Have you had visions, or seen things other people couldn`t see?
Is there anything unusual about the way things Ieel or taste or smell?
Other perceptual abnormalities
Do you ever get the Ieeling that something odd is going on which you can`t
explain?
1hinking, thought reading/insertion/echo/broadcast
Can you think clearly or is there any interIerence with your thoughts?
Do you Ieel under the control oI some Iorce or power other than yourselI?
Do people seem to drop hints about you or say things with a double meaning,
or do things in a special way so as to convey a meaning?
Is someone deliberately trying to harm you, such as trying to poison you or kill
you?
Do you think that people are organising things specially to help you?
Is there anything special about you? Do you have special abilities or powers?
How do you explain the things that have been happening? (SPECIFY) Is
anything like hypnotism, telepathy, or the occult going on? What is the
explanation?
Do you think your appearance is normal? Is there anything the matter with your
brain? Is there anything the matter with your body?
Even when you seem to be most convinced, do you really Ieel in the back oI
your mind that it might well not be true, that it might be imagination?
For a likely delusion:
How did it come into your mind that this was the explanation? (Did it happen
suddenly? How did it begin?)
Insight
What do you think it is? Could it be a nervous condition? What do you think
the cause is? Why did you need to come to hospital?
. etc.
Too detailed
Ior exams!
tinyurl.com/diagnosisofpsychosis
Declaration of interest.
Early ntervention within CPFT
Schizophrenia in the exams
Paper 1: cat
A patient saw a cat cross the road and knew immediately that there was a
conspiracy by the government to kill him. What is this psychopathological
phenomenon termed?
A. passivity phenomenon
B. phobia
C. delusional mood
D. delusional perception
E. Iunctional hallucination
Paper 1: smaller
Which structure is proportionally smaller in schizophrenia?
A. Lateral ventricles
B. Striatum
C. LeIt inIerior Irontal lobe
D. PreIrontal cortex
E. Hippocampus
Paper 1: passivity
A young man has passivity phenomena and third-person auditory hallucinations.
Which is the most likely risk Iactor?
A. losing mother beIore age 14
B. alcohol abuse
C. HLA-DQB1/DQA1
D. immigrant status
E. childhood sexual abuse
Paper 1: poison
You are interviewing a patient Ior the Iirst time. She tells you that her neighbours
have given her a poison that has made her intestines stop working. Which should
you do?
A. Ask her to tell you more about the problem.
B. OIIer blood tests, an intestinal workup.
C. Agree that some poisons can do this.
D. Tell her that this is very unlikely.
E. Suggest she contact the police.
Paper 1: F20
Which oI these is not classiIied under F20 (Schizophrenia) in ICD-10?
A. disorganized schizophrenia
B. post-schizophrenic depression
C. schizoaIIective disorder
D. residual schizophrenia
E. simple schizophrenia
Paper 1: direction
A patient shows marked changes in direction oI thought between grammatically
correct, coherent individual sentences. What is this termed?
A. Deviation
B. Derailment
C. Drivelling
D. Verbigeration
E. Wittering
Paper 1: febrile
A young man was admitted Ior treatment oI an acute psychotic episode 3 days
ago. Today you Iind him Iebrile and sweating with tachycardia and muscular
rigidity. Which is the most likely diagnosis?
A. hyperthyroidism
B. varicella zoster virus encephalitis
C. serotonin syndrome
D. neutropenic sepsis
E. neuroleptic malignant syndrome
Paper 1: persecution
A man is admitted to your unit. He has delusions oI persecution and Ieels guilty
about past misdeeds. He also complains oI low mood, and his concentration is
poor; he does not enjoy his customary pursuits. His appetite is reduced, he has lost
weight, and he is not sleeping well. What is the most likely diagnosis?
A. depressive episode
B. schizophrenia
C. bipolar aIIective disorder
D. hyperparathyroidism
E. delusional disorder
Paper 1: out loud
A patient has the experience oI hearing his own thoughts out loud a Iew seconds
aIter he thinks them. What is this termed?
A. Gedankenlautwerden
B. Gegenhalten
C. Mitmachen
D. Vorbeigehen
E. Wahnstimmung
Paper 1: choice of therapy
A. cognitivebehavioural therapy
B. dialecticalbehavioural therapy
C. Iamily intervention
D. cognitiveanalytical therapy
E. eye movement desensitization
F. psychodrama
G. relationship counselling
H. motivational interviewing
I. Gestalt therapy
Which would you advise Ior (pick ONE each):
A young man with bizarre delusions and social withdrawal who is just being
discharged Irom hospital; his mother thinks he`s lazy.
...
Paper 1: thought disorder
A. Fusion
B. Asyndesis
C. Condensation
D. Drivelling
E. Substitution
F. Clang association
G. Neologism
H. Tangentiality
I. Perseveration
Which ONE?
* A major thought stops and is replaced by a minor thought.
* Heterogeneous elements oI thought are interwoven with each other.
* There is a lack oI connection between successive thoughts.
Paper 2: kinetics (sic)
A drug has zero-order kinetics. How many halI-lives does it take to reach steady
state?
A. 3
B. 5
C. 7
D. 9
E. 11
Paper 2: least likely
Which is LEAST likely to be true oI schizophrenia?
A. Prenatal inIections predispose to schizophrenia.
B. Visual hallucinations do not invalidate the diagnosis.
C. Abnormalities on neurological examination are consistent with the diagnosis oI
schizophrenia.
D. Dopamine and glutamate abnormalities contribute to the development oI
psychosis.
E. Tau mutations cause schizophrenia.
Paper 2: comorbid
A patient with schizophrenia has liver disease and a glomerular Iiltration rate oI
120 ml/min. He needs an antipsychotic. Pick the best:
A. chlorpromazine
B. clozapine
C. olanzapine
D. amisulpride
E. risperidone
Paper 2: Hayling
A patient with schizophrenia has read that schizophrenics perIorm badly on the
Hayling test, and asks you to explain this to him. What process does it test?
A. visual short-term memory
B. phonological priming
C. immediate recall
D. delayed recall
E. response inhibition
Paper 2: family
Here are some Irequencies:
A) 15
B) 515
C) 1525
D) 2535
E) 3545
F) 4555
G) 5565
H) 6575
I) 7585
J) 8595
A 30-year-old woman has had bizarre delusions and disorganised speech. She has
now recovered and asks you about risks to her Iamily. What is the risk oI the
same condition developing in (pick ONE each):
Schizophrenia (THREE)?
Paper 3: design
Subjects are recruited to a randomized controlled trial oI psychosis and given new
treatment drug X or usual treatment oI chlorpromazine. Patients are randomly
allocated to one oI the two treatments. In this study, 15 oI patients given drug X
decide to stop and switch to the usual treatment, and oI those that remain, 120 out
oI 300 have extrapyramidal side eIIects and the treatment is eIIective in 55. In
contrast, all patients given chlorpromazine Iinish the study, and oI them, 225 out
oI 450 have extrapyramidal side eIIects and the treatment is eIIective in 60.
What should be done about the patients that were allocated to treatment X but
dropped out?
a) they should be analysed as iI they had continued on drug X
b) they should be analysed as iI they had been in the control group
c) their data should be dropped Irom the study entirely
d) their data should be replaced by data Irom randomly selected patients on drug
X who completed the study
e) their data should be replaced by the mean Iinal measure Ior patients on drug X
who completed the study
Paper 3: schizophreniform
Which oI the Iollowing diseases can cause a schizophreniIorm psychosis?
A. acromegaly
B. generalized anxiety disorder
C. anorexia nervosa
D. Huntington`s disease
E. severe pain
Paper 3: learning disability
What is the risk oI schizophrenia in someone with learning disability?
A. 1
B. 3
C. 5
D. 7
E. 9
CASC
STATION 1.
Mr John Hathawav is a 16-vear-old who has been referred to vou bv his GP, who
is concerned he mav have psvchotic svmptoms.
* Assess his mental state.
* In the next station, you will discuss your management plan with your consultant.
STATION 2.
Relevant phvsical examination and investigations are all normal.
* Discuss the case and your management plan with Dr Wilbur, your consultant.
References (PMD = PubMed D)
Prodrome. Loewy et al. (2007). PMID 17459662. // Moller & Husby (2000). PMID
10755683. // Harvey (2009). PMID 19724764. // Yung et al. (2006). PMID 16630707. //
Yung et al. (2005). PMID 16343296. // www.dsm5.org // Yung et al. 2003 PMID
12505135; Yung et al. 2005 PMID 16343296; Yung et al. 2006 PMID 16630707 //
Simon et al. 2011 PMID 21784618.
Differential diagnosis. Cardinal & Bullmore (2011) The Diagnosis of Psvchosis, CUP.
DUP. Marshall et al. (2005). PMID 16143729. // Cunningham Owens et al. (2010).
PMID 20357306. // Lloyd-Evans et al. (2011). PMID 21972275.