Schizophrenia - Early intervention

Early intervention in psychosis ‘amounts to deciding if a psychotic disorder has commenced and then offering effective treatment at the earliest possible point and secondly ensuring that intervention constitutes best practice for this phase of illness, and is not just the translation of standard treatments developed for later stages and more persistently ill subgroups of the disorder’,(McGorry et.al., 1996 p.305).

The importance of early intervention follows from evidence for a critical period in the development of schizophrenia. Research in the UK has shown that these early years prompt treatment can affect the long term course of psychosis and that delays in first treatment can increase early relapse rates. (Macmillan et al, 1986)

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