An exploration of psychotic-like symptom endorsement by race and ethnicity: Preliminary findings from the National Latino and Asian American Study and the National Survey of American Life

Research finds racial differences in the treatment of schizophrenia and other disorders even in the face of clear cut diagnostic criteria, African Americans appearing to be more clinically impaired than other groups. Available evidence has not been able to communicate important information such as the types of information that is disclosed when psychotic-like symptoms are endorsed. Given the subjective nature of the assessment process and the absence of a culturally relevant standardized assessment tool, this type of information will be vital when assessing and interpreting the prevalence of psychotic disorders. We explored open-ended responses from African American, Afro Caribbean, Asian and Latino Americans who positively endorsed at least one of six psychotic-like symptoms as part of two national psychiatric epidemiological surveys: the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) and the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). A mixed methods approach was used to analyze open-ended responses from 1000 respondents who positively endorsed at least one symptom of the WHO-CIDI psychosis screen. Responses were explored and categorized based on types of information discussed during the interview. No significant race/ethnic differences in the rates of psychotic-like symptom endorsement were observed. Similar to previous findings, spiritual or religious-type experiences were most commonly reported across race/ethnicity and the six symptoms. Respondents also talked frequently about issues relating to death and dying, premonitions, and experiences which we characterized with the term “supernatural/ghosts/spirits”. Visual and auditory hallucinations were commonly endorsed, followed by persecutory delusions, delusions of reference, thought insertion/withdrawal, and then, delusions of control.