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

Pilot study suggests that CBT may be a viable alternative to antipsychotics for people with schizophrenia, or does it?

250 Responses »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
>,
shutterstock_126814478

People with schizophrenia stop taking their antipsychotics for a wide range of reasons (e.g. debilitating side effects or a belief that they will not help them), but when they do health professionals often find it extremely difficult to care for these patients, because the alternative treatment options available to them are very limited. Of course, [read the full story…]

Cochrane review finds that haloperidol is an effective antipsychotic, but its side effects can be problematic

53 Responses »
Marcus Munafo
Posted by
shutterstock_108676748

Schizophrenia is a serious disorder characterised by delusions (including paranoid beliefs and hallucinations) and other symptoms such as blunted affect and reduced motivation. While relatively uncommon (lifetime prevalence is less than 1%), it is associated with serious social impairment (e.g., unemployment, homelessness), which in turn can result in physical health problems. As a result, the [read the full story…]

Cochrane review finds no evidence to support the use of user held records for patients with severe mental illness

33 Responses »
Rupert Thurston
Posted by
The reviewers can't have been too pleased with the paucity of research in this field

The use of care plans and Wellness Recovery Action Plans (WRAP®) (Cook et al, 2009) within mental health is commonplace. In Wales, care planning is covered by legislation in the form of the Mental Health Measure (Welsh Government website, 2013). The care plans are designed to be developed and agreed in a collaborative way with input [read the full story…]

Long term maintenance treatment with antipsychotics: a cautionary note from recent research

118 Responses »
Andrew Shepherd
Posted by
shutterstock_130812977

The support of individuals with experience of psychosis is complex and relies on a combination of psychopharmacology (antipsychotic drugs), psychological therapies and social interventions. Antipsychotics will often be the first line treatment offered, with the intention of reducing psychotic symptom burden. Following the resolution of immediate symptoms the role of antipsychotics becomes less clear; should [read the full story…]

Meta-analysis finds that pituitary volume is not affected in people with first episode psychosis or schizophrenia

29 Responses »
Stephen Wood
Posted by
shutterstock_103381445

* Declaration; I have published articles with two of the authors of this article, including on this topic, and know most of them professionally One influential model of the onset of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia is the stress-vulnerability model, first put forward by Zubin and Spring in 1977. This model proposes that people at [read the full story…]

Atypical antipsychotics no better than typicals for adolescents with psychosis, but atypicals may have fewer short-term side effects

51 Responses »
Profile photo of Lisa Burscheidt
Posted by
shutterstock_141889399

Schizophrenia is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder that often starts during adolescence. Current treatment guidelines (NICE, 2013) recommend atypical antipsychotics for adolescents with this condition, but this is based largely on studies of adults with the condition. The Cochrane Schizophrenia Group conducted this systematic review to synthesise the current evidence base for atypical antipsychotic medication in [read the full story…]

Estimating heritability in 5 psychiatric disorders: a 21st Century family study

51 Responses »
Alex Jarram
Posted by
shutterstock_160253336

It has long been established that psychiatric disorders have a genetic component. In the early days of genetic research, twin and family studies were used to estimate heritability (the proportion of variance explained by genetic factors). The Psychiatric Genetics Consortium has recently published a paper in Nature Genetics to assess the heritability and co-inheritability (relationship between [read the full story…]

If I pay you, will you have your injection?

75 Responses »
Profile photo of John Baker
Posted by
shutterstock_132396503

Getting patients to take their medication as prescribed is notoriously difficult. Regardless of condition only about 50% of patients adhere to prescribed regimes. This is particularly the case in chronic or complex conditions worldwide and improving this problem has the potential to save considerable health burden and costs. Adherence in mental health is no different. [read the full story…]

Newer antipsychotics may increase the risk of pneumonia in schizophrenia

59 Responses »
Helge Hasselmann
Posted by
Pneumonia x-ray

Because of a more favourable side effects profile (not necessarily clinical superiority), second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are today the most commonly used drugs to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia (Jones et al., 2006). While rather frequent adverse reactions, including weight gain, diabetes or sedation, are largely recognised, recent studies point at increased risk of pneumonia [read the full story…]

Do antipsychotics cause progressive brain changes in schizophrenia?

51 Responses »
Andrew Watson
Posted by
People with schizophrenia taking antipsychotics saw a reduction in grey matter

For over 30 years researchers have found that people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia have, on average, differences on brain scans compared to people without.  Not everybody with a diagnosis of schizophrenia will have these differences and it has not yet been possible to use brain scanning as a test to work out whether someone [read the full story…]