In psychiatry, the possibilities of intervention in the risk for development of mental disorders are now receiving greater attention, motivating researches and causing controversies. Among the several investigations about risk and psychiatric categories that have been conducted in the international scenario, proposals intended to previously detect and intervene in the development of psychosis stand out. Programs for early detection of psychosis have two objectives: to reach patients living the first psychotic break and patients considered to be at risk mental state. Despite the controversy about the at risk mental state, with the preparation of a new version of the DSM, the possibility of creating a specific category that could identify the risk for psychosis was pondered. This article analyzed the path of the early intervention in psychosis, starting with the emergence of the actions within the context of clinical enhancement in the first break, going through the controversial systematization of the notion of at risk mental state, finally coming to the formalization of the proposal of a new diagnostic category during the preparation of the DSM-5.
Early intervention; psychosis; psychiatry