There is scientific evidence that the accumulation of these circumstances, considered risk factors, generates an altered life path that makes people more vulnerable to the possibility of suffering a mental disorder. The term risk factor is selected, among others, as adverse circumstances, warning signs, adverse relational experiences and/or victimization, since in the scientific literature risk factors are named in this way when their presence is shown to increase the risk related to the appearance of mental disorder.

LISMEN is a questionnaire that was developed by a research group on warning signs and early signs of schizophrenia (SASPE) belonging to the Catalan Institute of Health, in Barcelona, whose main researcher was Dr. Jorge L. Tizón. LISMEN explores the vital events and the biography of people, such as the existence of separations of the paternal or maternal figure, impoverished maternal and paternal functions or mother with depression. In other words, it explores the presence or absence of risk factors, also including components that suggest the presence of an alteration in the bond or relationship and, therefore, in the process of emotional structuring of the subject.