Distress related to psychotic experiences: Enhancing the world health organization composite international diagnostic interview psychosis screen

Abstract Background The abbreviated version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) psychosis screen tends to yield high prevalence in online samples. Psychotic Experiences (PE) may not necessarily indicate current or imminent psychopathology; however, distressing PE appear to be more clinically informative. Methods We analyzed data collected from an online survey administered to a Qualtrics panel (N = 2522 adults). Using multivariable logistic regression, we examined the association between PE (with and without associated distress) and several mental health outcomes, adjusting for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Results Individuals with distressing PE had greater odds of most mental health outcomes when compared with individuals with non‐distressing PE. This was true for being in mental health treatment, loneliness, probable mental illness, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt, adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education level. The only exception was for hazardous alcohol use, for which there was no significant association with distressing PE. Conclusion As screening for PE gains traction in public health and preventive medicine, using an abbreviated version of the WHO CIDI psychosis screen may be clinically informative, especially when eliciting the distressful nature of PE.