This is exciting to me. Two separate studies are underway to determine more effective psych med prescribing for those clients who are non-responders to the first-line treatments of schizophrenia and depression.
Developing a more evidence based methodology could save clients with these illnesses months to years of unnecessary suffering. Gone will be the days where psychiatrists place a client on an antipsychotic or antidepressant and just “wait it out” to see if there is an improvement.
The new methods being studied include identifying which patients will not respond well to a medication at two weeks or less (vs four weeks currently); discontinuing the non-responding drug and switching to a similar drug; or combining the non-responding drug with an augmented, more effective drug to reduce the burden of these illnesses as quickly as possible.