First Episode Psychosis

This report describes the demographic characteristics and social service histories of a cohort of individuals with psychotic disorders and a subgroup of individuals experiencing their first episode of psychosis. Through examination of Washington State administrative data, we found that almost 40,000 DSHS clients enrolled in Medicaid had psychotic disorder diagnoses in State Fiscal Year 2015. Among them, we identified 3,062 individuals who received a psychotic disorder diagnosis for the first time during the year. One in three of these first episode psychosis (FEP) clients received their initial psychotic disorder diagnosis in an emergency department. During the two years before being diagnosed, more than half of the FEP clients had at least one emergency room visit, one in five (21%) were involved with the child welfare system, and one in five (22%) experienced homelessness or housing instability. Seventy-five percent of the FEP clients had identified mental health treatment needs during the two years before being diagnosed with psychotic disorders, but only 44 percent received any publicly funded mental health services.