Systematic epidemiological and clinical comparisons across all 12 DSM-IV psychotic diagnoses in the Cavan-Monaghan First Episode Psychosis Study (CAMFEPS).

There are considerable similarities and overlaps across a broad range of diagnostic categories in the absence of robust discontinuities between them. Thus, psychotic illness may be of such continuity that it cannot be fully captured by operational diagnostic algorithms that, at least in part, assume discontinuities. This may reflect the impact of diverse factors each of which acts on one or more overlapping components of a common, dysfunctional neuronal network implicated in the pathobiology of psychotic illness.