psychosis

Psychosis is a condition that affects a person’s mind and causes changes to the way that they think, feel and behave. A person who experiences psychosis may be unable to distinguish between reality and their imagination. People who are experiencing psychosis are sometimes referred to as psychotic. They may have hallucinations (where you see or hear things that are not there) and/or delusions (where you believe things that are untrue).

Our psychosis Blogs

Long duration of untreated psychosis is associated with a range of poor outcomes

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Joe Judge
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Joe Judge appraises a recent systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the duration of untreated psychosis as a predictor of long-term outcomes in schizophrenia.

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Efficacy of high vs. low-potency first-generation antipsychotics for schizophrenia

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Raphael Underwood
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Laurence Palfreyman summarises 3 recent Cochrane reviews, which investigate high-potency versus low-potency first-generation antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia. The reviews find little difference in efficacy between the high-potency antipsychotics Trifluoperazine, Haloperidol, Fluphenazine, and low-potency typical antipsychotics.

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Helping young people with psychosis return to work: early intervention services need to do more

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Stephen Wood
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Stephen Wood summarises a recent cluster RCT of vocational rehabilitation in early psychosis, which finds that early intervention services need to do more to help young people with psychosis return to work.

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Meta-review presents the risks of all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders

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Raphael Underwood
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This recent and well-conducted meta-review concludes that the impact on mortality and suicide of mental disorders is substantial, and probably poorly appreciated as a public health problem. Raphael Underwood’s blog summarises the data for all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders.

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Joint crisis plans: cost-effective for whom?

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Chris Sampson looks at the economic outcomes of a recent RCT of joint crisis plans to reduce compulsory treatment for people with psychosis. The study reports the potential for gains specifically among Black patients.

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Childhood abuse and adverse life events interact synergistically to produce a high risk for psychotic experiences

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Andrew Shepherd
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This recent study concludes that childhood abuse creates an enduring vulnerability to psychosis that is realised in the event of exposure to further stressors and risk factors, such as separation, bereavement, or being involved in an accident or physical attack.

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Shared decision making in antipsychotic prescribing: the perspective of psychiatrists

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Liz Hughes
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Shared decision making is now commonplace, but will this approach ever be fully embraced in relation to antipsychotic prescribing? Liz Hughes reports on a recent qualitative study of consultant psychiatrists’ experiences that sheds some light on the issue.

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Antipsychotics and mood stabilisers may reduce violent crime

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John Baker reports on the first population based report of the positive effects of antipsychotic medication and mood stabilisers on reducing the risk of a conviction for violent crime, published in the Lancet in May.

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Art therapy for schizophrenia: an effective add-on treatment?

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Joe Judge
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The MATISSE trial in 2012 concluded that group art therapy did no better than standard care at improving symptoms for people with schizophrenia. A new critique of that RCT from the British Association of Art Therapists says the therapy can be more useful.

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Acute and transient psychotic disorders: the ‘third psychosis’ and its relation to schizophrenia

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Raphael Underwood
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Raphael Underwood reports on routinely collected data from the Scottish Morbidity Record, which suggests that 1 in 8 people with first-ever diagnosed acute and transient psychotic disorders will develop schizophrenia within 3–5 years. Researchers conclude that those at high risk of transition may benefit from monitoring for possible diagnostic change.

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