Overview. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a hormone produced by the body's adrenal glands. The body uses DHEA to make androgens and estrogens, the male and female sex hormones. DHEA levels peak at about age 25, then go down steadily as you get older. By the time people are 70 to 80 years old, their DHEA levels are only 10 to 20% those in young adults.
The Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (Haddock et al., 1999) are semi-structured interviews designed to assess the subjective characteristics of hallucinations and delusions (see Appendix).
Major symptoms seen in psychotic disorders are hallu-. cinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking. Hallucina-. tions and delusions can be very frightening, often. terrifying for individuals. They also can be very discon-. certing initially and even frightening to nurses and other. health care individuals.