THE iHEAR STUDY
Towards a new understanding of the relationship between early life experiences, mental health, brain development
and psychotic-like experiences in young people
A study led by Professor Mary Cannon in the Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)
iHEAR is grant-funded by the European Research Council (ERC-2016-COG-724809)
What are psychotic-like experiences?
Psychotic-like experiences refer to hallucinatory and delusion-like experiences that occur in the absence
of a psychotic disorder. Hallucinatory experiences refer to unusual perceptual experiences, the most common of which are seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling or smelling things that are not there. Delusion-like experiences refer to false beliefs that are held with conviction, even when there is no evidence to support them. Psychotic-like experiences are not uncommon. By early adolescence, about 1 in 6 young people will report these experiences. About 1 in 20 adults report having these experiences. Even though they are transient experiences for most people, research suggests that they are more likely to be reported by people with difficult early life experiences and by people struggling with their emotional and mental health.