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A major international study, co-led by the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (OHFT), has uncovered vital insights into the brain changes linked to treatment-resistant psychosis, offering fresh hope for earlier diagnosis and more targeted care.
Published in the journal Schizophrenia, the research tracked 87 individuals experiencing a first episode of non-affective psychosis, alongside 118 healthy controls, using resting-state functional MRI over a six-year period. Crucially, 30 participants went on to develop treatment-resistant psychosis, a condition affecting around one in four people with psychosis and often recognised only after years of unsuccessful medication trials.
Clinical data was collected through the Early Intervention Service at the Instituto Psiquiátrico José Horwitz Barak in Santiago, Chile. Chilean researchers were central to the project, contributing to both data collection and analysis. This builds on Chile’s leadership in early psychosis care in Latin America, including the OnTrack Chile programme, which adapts global best practice to local needs.
Read the full story on the Department of Psychiatry website.