By Katherine Hobson NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young adults at
very high risk of psychotic illness should receive talk therapy
rather than antipsychotic drugs as an initial treatment, a new
study suggests. The results might ease fears about overtreating
people who have warning signs of psychosis but not a full-blown
disease, but the study findings were not conclusive because the
number of participants was too small. "This shows it's quite
safe and reasonably effective … to offer supportive psychosocial
care to these patients," Dr. Patrick McGorry, an author of the
study, told Reuters Health. There is "no evidence to suggest
that antipsychotic medications are needed in first-line"
treatment, he said. The clinical trial included 115 clients of a
Melbourne, Australia, clinic for young people deemed to be at
"ultra-high risk" for a psychotic disorder such as
schizophrenia. The study was open to individuals between the
ages of 14 and 30 who met at least one of three criteria: having
low-level psychotic symptoms,