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Worldwide, how common are psychotic experiences (PEs)? To assess the frequency of six discrete PEs in 31,261 community-living adults in 18 countries in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the South Pacific, trained lay interviewers used a validated, structured clinical interview. People with evidence of a psychotic disorder were excluded.
Assessed PEs included auditory or visual hallucinatory experiences (HEs) and delusional experiences (DEs; thought insertion/withdrawal, mind control/passivity, ideas of reference, plot to harm/follow). The lifetime and previous-year prevalences of any PE were 5.8% and 2.0%, respectively. Lifetime prevalence was 5.2% for HEs and only 1.3% for DEs; the most common type was visu…