Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia.
Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia; Memory Ageing & Cognition Centre, National University Health System, Singapore; Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Schizophr Res. 2024 Aug;270:486-493. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.06.042. Epub 2024 Jul 14.
Formal Thought Disorder (FTD) is a recognised psychiatric symptom, yet its characterisation remains debated. This is problematic because it contributes to poor efficiency and heterogeneity in psychiatric research, with salient clinical impact.
This study aimed to investigate expert opinion on the concept, measurement and clinical utility of FTD using the Delphi technique.
Across three rounds, experts were queried on their definitions of FTD, methods for the assessment and measurement of FTD, associated clinical outcomes and treatment options.
Responses were obtained from 56 experts, demonstrating varying levels of consensus across different aspects of FTD. While consensus (>80 %) was reached for some aspects on the concept of FTD, including its definition and associated symptomology and mechanisms, others remained less clear. Overall, the universal importance attributed to the clinical understanding, measurement and treatment of FTD was clear, although consensus was infrequent as to the reasons behind and methods for doing so.
Our results contribute to the still elusive formal definition of FTD. The multitude of interpretations regarding these topics highlights the need for further clarity with this phenomenon. Our findings emphasised that the measurement and clinical utility of FTD are closely tied to the concept; hence, until there is agreement on the concept of FTD, difficulties with measuring and understanding its clinical usefulness to inform treatment interventions will persist. Future FTD research should focus on clarifying the factor structure and dimensionality to determine the latent structure and elucidate the core clinical phenotype.
形式思维障碍（FTD）是一种公认的精神科症状，但对其特征的描述仍存在争议。这是有问题的，因为它导致了精神科研究效率低下和异质性，对临床有重要影响。
本研究旨在使用德尔菲技术调查专家对 FTD 的概念、测量和临床应用的意见。
在三轮研究中，专家们被问及 FTD 的定义、评估和测量方法、相关临床结果和治疗选择。
共收到 56 名专家的回复，表明在 FTD 的不同方面存在不同程度的共识。虽然在 FTD 的概念方面达成了一些共识（>80%），包括其定义和相关症状学和机制，但其他方面仍不太明确。总的来说，对 FTD 的临床理解、测量和治疗的普遍重要性是明确的，尽管对于这样做的原因和方法达成共识的情况并不常见。
我们的研究结果有助于对 FTD 这一仍未明确定义的概念进行研究。对于这些主题的多种解释突出表明，需要进一步澄清这一现象。我们的研究结果强调，FTD 的测量和临床应用与概念密切相关；因此，在 FTD 的概念达成一致之前，在测量和理解其对治疗干预的临床有用性方面将存在困难。未来的 FTD 研究应集中于阐明其因子结构和维度，以确定潜在结构并阐明核心临床表型。
