The first psychotic episode, on many occasions, is the way schizophrenia begins. Identifying potential indicators of its outcome is one of the newest research topics in psychiatry today. Objective: To establish the factors that predict the severity of the clinical presentation in patients who have a first psychotic episode. Methods and materials: All the patients who were attended in three psychiatric care centers in Bogotá were included, between February 1, 2004 and August 1, 2006. After taking informed consent with the relatives, a description was made of the demographic characteristics, the clinical picture, the level of quality of life and the social and labor functioning of the patients at the first visit. The personal and family history, the consumption of psychoactive substances, the time of evolution of the prodromes and the duration of psychotic symptoms before the start of treatment were also characterized.