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).
For people with a psychotic illness, or who have a predisposition to such an illness, the effects can be more serious and long-term. Psychotic illnesses are characterised by symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder. When people experience psychotic symptoms, they are unable to distinguish what is real â there is a loss of contact with reality. See also Factsheet 1: Psychosis.