Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Early Diagnosis and Treatment - Vital for Recovery

This story about early treatment programs for psychosis and schizophrenia comes to us from Ireland. Perhaps the key quote of the story is this: "There is evidence from Canada, Australia and other countries that such services improve the chances of recovery by up to 50 per cent." Its extremely unfortunate that we in the USA don't have a national program to target this crucial time period of early psychosis - as the healthcare systems in Canada, Australia and England have.

Instead of early schizophrenia treatment and prevention programs, we invest in jails. While this may be great for the jail construction company lobbyists and the politicians they fund, we suspect that most informed people wouldn't think its the best approach for the US population at large. If you disagree with the policy of jailing the mentally ill instead of providing preventative treatment programs - you might want to discuss it with your local politician and make your voice heard in the next federal elections. But we digress... following is the story out of Ireland:

Young people with psychosis (the broader term for brain disorders that includes schizophrenia) who experience one to two years' delay in diagnosis and treatment experience more severe symptoms, are more likely to make a suicide attempt and more likely to be admitted to hospital, according to recent research done in Ireland.

This research, carried out by the Cluain Mhuire mental health services in Dublin, Ireland, led to the development of Ireland's first service offering early detection and treatment of serious mental illness in young people last year. The Dublin East Treatment and Early Care Team (Detect) project, which first took referrals in February 2005, has seen 110 people to date.

"We do rapid assessments of the patients, within 72 hours of receiving a referral from community mental health service," said Niall Turner, project manager of Detect, which operates in the HSE Eastern Region. "There is evidence from Canada, Australia and other countries that such services improve the chances of recovery by up to 50 per cent."

Following diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder or a drug/substance induced psychosis, patients and their families are offered a variety of services, including group psychological therapies, carer education programs for family members and psychosocial programs of rehabilitation and vocational training.

Psychosis affects 3 per cent of the population and usually develops in late adolescence (early adulthood). Difficulties often develop including disrupted education and employment, relationship problems, substance misuse, depression and suicide.

"These young people are a high-risk group and are 20 times more likely to take their own lives," Prof Eadbhard O'Callaghan, a psychiatrist with Cluain Mhuire, said yesterday.

However, many people who develop psychosis do recover and early diagnosis and intervention are deemed crucial to such recovery.

The new Ireland national mental health policy document, A Vision for Change, recommends the establishment of another early intervention pilot program for young people with psychosis.

More information: Global List of Early Psychosis Treatment Centers

Complete List: Early Psychosis / Schizophrenia Treatment News and Information