As a foundation for considering how gains may be maintained following early intervention in first-episode psychosis (FEP), this study aimed to describe and investigate factors predicting post-discharge relapse and longer term functioning.
CONCLUSIONS:
Increased emphasis on relapse prevention and early post-discharge monitoring may be needed, especially in the first year, for those who have experienced previous relapse.
**To maintain early outcomes in FEP (First Episode Psychosis), targeted interventions to address substance misuse and functional recovery need to be sustained in the long term. **
Early Intervention Service (EISs) should aim to make the first episode of psychosis the last. Services providing care for patients with psychosis post EIS should be designed to deliver care for ongoing need, with continued emphasis on relapse prevention and social recovery.
If an episode involves having hallucinations that don’t completely stop in at least a day’s time then my first episode lasted 22 years. If it is an episode that requires hospitalization then it lasted less than a day. They didn’t put me in a Psych Ward for having voices in my head. They just gave me drugs and released me. During the first time I was messed up enough to be hospitalized I didn’t know I had voices in my head and was hearing outside voices that I believed was real. So I didn’t have the ability to tell them I had voices in my head and they released me after 12 hours. The second time they saw in less than 6 hours and found out I had voices and gave me a prescription. I saw a psychiatrist for about two decades before having a bad reaction to a drug and ended up in a detox center. I didn’t go to the Psych Ward until 22 and a half years after I started hearing voices because the drug that finally ended them caused bad side effects as well. As I said I heard voices every day before then although the drugs calmed them down. So define a first episode.