About

Dr. Elizabeth Thompson is an Assistant Professor of the Practice and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship (T32) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. Her research focuses on understanding risk factors for psychosis-spectrum disorders in adolescence, improving methods of screening and assessment for early psychosis across various settings, and developing effective intervention strategies to mitigate mental health and safety-related risks for this population. Dr. Thompson is also the clinic co-director for Bradley Hospital's Stride Clinic, an early psychosis assessment and consultation service for youth and families in Rhode Island. She holds positions as a Research Scientist at Rhode Island Hospital and is actively involved in clinical advising and community engagement related to early psychosis.

Research topics

• Medical emergency
• Psychiatry
• Medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Psychology
• Psychotherapist

Selected publications

• Paranoia, Functioning, and the Moderating Effect of Well‐Being in a Community Sample of Adolescents

  Journal of Adolescence · 2025-01-02 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: Paranoid ideation is a relatively common experience in adolescence, yet it has not been well-explored in relation to psychological well-being and functioning in general population samples of youth. The current study aimed to investigate the relations between paranoia (operationalized as "persecutory ideation"), well-being, and two domains of functioning, social (e.g., interpersonal relationships) and role (e.g., school and home responsibilities), in adolescence. METHODS: This nonclinical sample of adolescents (n = 462, aged 14-17 years, 50% male, 50% female) was recruited from the United Kingdom and the United States via an online survey in 2022. RESULTS: Correlations indicated significant associations between persecutory ideation, in the negative direction, and well-being, in the positive direction, with both social and role functioning. With respect to social, but not role, functioning, these associations remained significant in linear regression analyses controlling for the effects of depression, past-year bullying/victimization, and past-year adverse life events. A subsequent analysis indicated that the association between persecutory ideation and social functioning was moderated by well-being. Persecutory ideation was significantly associated with social functioning at the lowest level of well-being (1 SD below the mean), but not at moderate (mean) or high (1 SD above the mean) levels of well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that among adolescents, persecutory ideation is negatively associated with functioning. Furthermore, novel findings suggest that well-being may buffer the association between persecutory ideation and social functioning. Therapeutic interventions targeting well-being may be helpful for youth experiencing paranoia, especially with respect to maintaining relationships and social connectedness.

  PublisherDOI

• The association between thought disturbance and suicidal ideation within and across ethnoracial groups of juvenile legal system-involved youth

  Children and Youth Services Review · 2025-04-11 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  • Thought Disturbance (TD) was significantly associated with Suicidal Ideation (SI) • This effect remained significant when controlling for clinical covariates. • Significant TD x sex interactions were found for Black and Hispanic/Latinx youth. Psychosis-spectrum symptoms are linked to markedly high risk for suicide among youth; however, the associations between these symptoms have not been well-explored in juvenile legal system (JLS)-involved youth or across Black and Hispanic/Latinx minoritized youth, who are overrepresented within the JLS. Participants ( n = 901, aged 10–18) were diverted youth who, upon JLS intake, completed the Massachusetts Youth Screening Inventory- 2 (MAYSI-2), which probes Thought Disturbance (TD), i.e. potential psychosis-spectrum symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation (SI). Linear regression examined the association between TD and SI. A series of two-way interactions tested whether the effect of TD on SI was moderated by sex within three ethnoracial groups: Black/non-Hispanic, Hispanic/Latinx, and White/non-Hispanic youth. TD was significantly associated with SI when controlling for demographics and other MAYSI-2 scales in a test of robustness. Significant TD x sex interactions were found in the Black/non-Hispanic and Hispanic/Latinx groups. TD was significantly associated with SI for White/non-Hispanic youth, Black/non-Hispanic females, and Hispanic/Latinx females. There was no significant association between TD and SI among Black/non-Hispanic and Hispanic/Latinx males. Findings indicate that TD is a significant predictor of SI for some youth, and this scale may inform suicide risk assessment within a JLS setting.

  PublisherDOI

• Reasons for Thinking About Suicide Among Individuals With First‐Episode Psychosis: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

  Early Intervention in Psychiatry · 2025-01-04 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  AIM: This study aimed to examine patient perceived reasons for thinking about suicide among individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP). METHODS: Participants completed a baseline assessment followed by 28 days of ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Baseline measures assessed lifetime suicidal ideation and reasons for thinking about suicide. EMA items assessed real-time suicidal ideation and reasons for thinking about suicide. RESULTS: The average number of lifetime reasons for thinking about suicide was 11.47 ± 5.99, with the most commonly endorsed reasons being to get away or escape (81.6%), to stop bad feelings (71.1%), and to relieve feelings of aloneness, emptiness or isolation (57.9%). Only 31.6% of participants endorsed positive symptoms as a lifetime reason for thinking about suicide. EMA results were consistent with lifetime data. Participants typically endorsed multiple reasons (2.15 ± 0.71), with the desire to escape and to stop bad feelings being the most commonly endorsed items. Psychosis was endorsed as a reason for thinking about suicide during 16.3% of instances of ideation during EMA. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the multi-faceted nature of suicide risk in psychosis. Interestingly, positive symptoms were not frequently endorsed as reasons for thinking about suicide from the patient's perspective. Further research is needed to identify when and for whom positive symptoms contribute to suicide risk. Additionally, our results identify important risk factors for further study, namely the desire to escape and/or stop bad feelings.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Investigating Substance Use as a Coping Strategy Among Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients: A Comparative Analysis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Child Psychiatry & Human Development · 2024-07-04 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Suicidality among clients in a network of coordinated specialty care (CSC) programs for first-episode psychosis: Rates, changes in rates, and their predictors

  Schizophrenia Research · 2024-09-19 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Measuring Paranoid Beliefs in Adolescents: A Comparison of the Revised-Green et al.’s Paranoid Thoughts Scale (R-GPTS) and the Bird Checklist of Adolescent Paranoia (B-CAP)

  Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · 2024-04-03 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Research on paranoid beliefs in adolescents is in its infancy. Valid and reliable assessments are essential to advancing the field, yet there is no current consensus as to which are optimal to use in this population. This study compared the psychometric properties of two measures of paranoia in a general population adolescent sample. A cross-sectional study with quota sampling (gender and age) recruited adolescents (14-17 years) from the UK (n = 262) and USA (n = 200), who completed the Revised Green et al. Paranoid Thoughts Scale (R-GPTS) and the Bird Checklist for Adolescent Paranoia (B-CAP). We assessed factor structures, intercorrelations, overlap of participants identified as at-risk for paranoid thoughts via both scales, convergent validity (scales with one another) and discriminant validity (distress, wellbeing, bullying and discrimination). Both scales performed equally well in terms of factorial validity. Intercorrelations between the subscales and with general distress were high for both measures. However, a substantial percentage of participants were identified as having paranoid beliefs according to the R-GPTS but not the B-CAP. Furthermore, the B-CAP showed a very high correlations (0.69 ≤ r ≤ 0.79) with self-reported bullying experiences, which bordered on multicollinearity. Findings highlight the possibility that B-CAP may risk confounding paranoid beliefs with exposure to bullying more so than R-GPTS, and that B-CAP may miss instances of elevated paranoia that are captured by the R-GPTS. Future research needs to further explore this by validating both scales with an external (e.g., interview-based) criterion for paranoia.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• P27 Social determinants of recovery from ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 in two UK longitudinal studies: a prospective cohort study

  SSM Annual Scientific Meeting · 2024-08-01

  article

  <h3>Background</h3> Social gradients in COVID-19 exposure, illness severity, and mortality have been observed internationally. Whether pre-existing social factors affect recovery from ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 is less well understood. <h3>Methods</h3> We analysed data on self-perceived recovery following self-reported COVID-19 illness in two United Kingdom community-based cohorts, COVID Symptom Study Biobank (CSSB) (N = 2548) and TwinsUK (N = 1334). Causal effects of socio-demographic variables reflecting status prior to the COVID-19 pandemic on self-perceived recovery were estimated with multivariable poisson regression models weighted for inverse probability of questionnaire participation and COVID-19 infection and adjusted for potential confounders. Further analyses tested associations between recovery and composite variables derived from categories of sex, ethnic group, education level, employment status and local area deprivation to represent cumulative social advantage and disadvantage, as well as individual socio-demographic variables reflecting status during the pandemic. <h3>Results</h3> Gradients in recovery were observed with cumulative advantage and disadvantage, with unadjusted recovery rate varying between 52% and 81% in CSSB and 72% and 89% in TwinsUK. Lower likelihood of recovery was higher for multiply advantaged participants in both cohorts (CSSB: relative risk ratio, RR = 1.08, 95% CI, CI: 1.04-1.12 per additional form of advantage; TwinsUK: RR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02-1.11) and lower for more disadvantaged participants in CSSB (RR = 0.88, 95% CI, CI: 0.83-0.94 per additional disadvantage; TwinsUK: RR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.91-1.02). Associations were not explained by differences in pre-pandemic health factors. Adverse employment, financial, health care access and personal experiences during the pandemic were negatively associated with recovery. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Social inequalities in the likelihood of recovery from COVID-19 were observed, with ongoing symptoms several months after coronavirus infection more likely for individuals with greater social disadvantage prior to the pandemic. Work is needed to identify modifiable biopsychosocial factors to enable interventions that address inequalities.

  PublisherDOI

• Schizophrenia and Psychosis: Treatment and Follow-Up

  Issues in clinical child psychology · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The energetic stress cytokine GDF15 is elevated in the context of chronic and acute psychosocial stress

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-04-21 · 12 citations

  preprintOpen access

  ABSTRACT Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) is a protein that reflects mitochondrial energetic stress and is linked to physical and mental health symptoms, aging, and mortality. Here, we tested the hypothesis that GDF15 is a stress-responsive biomarker through a series of observational and experimental studies. We report four main findings. First, in the UK Biobank (n=53,026) and Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Offspring (n=3,460) cohorts, plasma GDF15 levels were elevated in individuals with symptoms of depression and anxiety. In the FHS cohort, GDF15 was also higher in participants exposed to chronic psychosocial stressors, including lower educational attainment, lower family income, and higher job strain. Second, plasma GDF15 levels in the FHS cohort correlated positively with epigenetic clocks measuring biological aging and effect sizes of GDF15 associations with psychosocial stressors were comparable to those observed for the clocks. Third, in a two-participant intensive-sampling study (n=112 days), saliva GDF15 showed a robust awakening response similar to established stress-related hormones. However, it exhibited a distinct negative pattern, peaking at waking and declining by 42–92% within 30–45 minutes. Finally, in two laboratory experiments (n=148), acute social-evaluative stress significant increased GDF15 levels in plasma and saliva within minutes. Together, these findings suggest that psychosocial stress may contribute to mitochondrial energetic stress indexed by GDF15, with implications for aging and health. This work opens new avenues for using GDF15 as a non-invasive biomarker to study the biological embedding of stress and its impact on aging trajectories. Significance statement Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) is a circulating protein elevated with mitochondrial energetic stress, aging, and diseases. Our findings show that GDF15 is elevated with depressive and anxiety symptoms and in those exposed to chronic psychosocial stress. Elevated plasma GDF15 also correlates with accelerated biological aging, as measured by epigenetic clocks. The effect sizes linking GDF15 to psychosocial stressors were comparable to those observed for the epigenetic clocks. Saliva GDF15 shows a robust negative awakening response characterized by elevated levels at awakening before declining within 30–45 minutes. Acute social-evaluative stress induced increase in plasma and saliva GDF15. Together, these findings suggest GDF15 can be used to study the energetic mechanisms for the biological embedding of stress across the lifespan.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Discrimination, minority group endorsement and paranoia in adolescents: the moderating role of loneliness

  International Journal of Adolescence and Youth · 2024-12-13

  articleOpen access

  Paranoid thoughts are relatively common in adolescents, but little is known about the factors that predict and attenuate paranoia in this group. The current study examined the effect of everyday discrimination, minority group endorsement and loneliness on paranoia in an international sample (n = 462) of adolescents from the UK and U.S.A. We tested a moderation model to determine (1) whether minority group endorsement and severity of discrimination independently predict paranoia; (2) if discrimination and minority group endorsement interact to predict paranoia; and, if so, (3) whether the impact of this interaction varies depending on level of loneliness. Regression analyses revealed everyday discrimination independently predicted paranoia. Minority group endorsement did not interact with discrimination as expected, and instead had a significant, independent effect on paranoia. Loneliness independently predicted paranoia and moderated the effect of discrimination on paranoia. The findings highlight the impact of adverse social contexts on paranoia in adolescents.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• A Treatment Engagement Protocol to Improve Follow-Up Care for Psychiatrically Hospitalized Adolescents at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

  NIH · $787k · 2019–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Jennifer C. Wolff

  Brown University

  177 shared

• Jeffrey Hunt

  John Brown University

  64 shared

• Sarah A. Thomas

  Brown University

  56 shared

• Jason Schiffman

  University of California, Irvine

  51 shared

• Anthony Spirito

  Providence College

  46 shared

• Gloria Reeves

  University of Maryland, Baltimore

  41 shared

• Anastacia Y. Kudinova

  Brown University

  37 shared

• Jacqueline Nesi

  Brown University

  36 shared

Labs

• Thompson, Elizabeth SPARK LabPI