schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a long-term mental health condition that causes a range of different psychological symptoms. These include: hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that do not exist), delusions (unusual beliefs that are not based on reality and often contradict the evidence), muddled thoughts based on the hallucinations or delusions, and changes in behaviour. Doctors describe schizophrenia as a psychotic illness. This means that sometimes a person may not be able to distinguish their own thoughts and ideas from reality.

Our schizophrenia Blogs

Community treatment orders fail to reduce psychiatric readmissions for people with psychosis

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Kathryn Walsh
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Community treatment orders (CTO’s) provide compulsory supervision outside of psychiatric hospital. They require patients to accept clinical monitoring in the community and enable them to be recalled to hospital for assessment if necessary. They do not authorise forcible treatment; however whilst on a CTO a patient may be ordered to meet certain requirements, such as [read the full story…]

Long-acting antipsychotics cost-effective for treatment of schizophrenia, but evidence inconsistent

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Here at Mental Elf HQ we’re expanding our skill set to include economics. Understanding the best way to value health and health care, and improving health outcomes with budget constraints in mind, are the key pastimes of economics elves. We hope to bring you the latest economic evidence in the field of mental health and to [read the full story…]

Meta-analysis finds insufficient evidence for treatments to improve insight for people with psychosis

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Kathryn Walsh
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Research suggests that many people with schizophrenia or related psychoses show a striking lack of insight into their condition (Dam, 2006). Poor insight can have a negative impact on several outcomes, including general adjustment (Stefanopoulou et al., 2009), quality of life (Drake et al., 2007), social functioning (Drake et al., 2007) and rehospitalisation. With this [read the full story…]

Cochrane review cannot support training to recognise early signs of recurrence in schizophrenia due to low quality evidence

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Emma Cernis
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NICE Guidelines state that around three quarters of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia experience a chronic illness: with recurrent episodes of remission and relapse.  One way that chronic physical health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, are managed is by using early warning signs (EWS) training and this prevention strategy is now often [read the full story…]

Factors stopping the nation from getting back on its feet: a survey of the non-fatal burden of disease due to mental disorder

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Amy Green
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In times of economic adversity, the health and well-being of a nation needs consideration in order to maximise the workforce and productivity. The number of people and the amount of time spent in an adverse health-state is a prominent driver of population ill health.  Most mental illnesses begin early and persist over a lifetime. Approximately [read the full story…]

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Yoga for schizophrenia: meta-analysis shows short-term quality of life improvements

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Caroline Tomes
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This blog entry is the second in a series which is examining the mental health benefits of yoga.  Last month I blogged about yoga for psychiatric disorders, and today I shall be looking specifically at the benefits for schizophrenia. The benefits of exercise and physical activity for schizophrenia are increasingly being recognised.  Regular exercise can [read the full story…]

Atypical antipsychotics don’t improve quality of life in treatment-resistant depression

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Helge Hasselmann
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SSRIs are usually considered first-line treatment against major depression and approximately 50% of patients achieve remission with the drug they try first (Steffens, Krishnan, & Helms, 1997). However, every eighth case proves to be treatment-resistant and does not respond to standard antidepressant treatment at all. As a last resort, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) effective in schizophreniform [read the full story…]

Old side effects and old drugs; old side effects and new drugs

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Clive Adams
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People using antipsychotic drugs like chlorpromazine and haloperidol get [anticholinergic] side effects such as blurred vision, dry mouth and constipation but the proportion of people experiencing these is not clear. Past surveys are very old indeed, small and not really proper surveys at all. Their results had been perpetuated for decades without verification. They were [read the full story…]

Treatment of excessive alcohol use in people with psychotic disorders: Non-intervention specific improvements

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Paul Christiansen
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The literature on the efficacy of psychological treatments for excessive drinking is vast, but investigations into effectiveness of these treatments in individuals with other clinical diagnoses are considerably more limited. A recent paper published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica reviewed the effectiveness of manual guided treatments for excessive alcohol consumption in individuals with a psychotic disorder. [read the full story…]

Yoga for psychiatric disorders: systematic review shows some benefit but more research needed

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Caroline Tomes
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Here at Mental Elf HQ, several new pieces of research relating to yoga have come our way.  This blog is the first in a series examining the mental health effects of engaging in yoga. Yoga is a form of exercise (largely comprising physical postures and breathing) which originated in India over 5,000 years ago.  Many [read the full story…]