PinterestMedication Compliance Helps Schizophrenia Patients
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- Parent Category: Schizophrenia
- Category: Schizophrenia Medication
- Published on Wednesday, 09 May 2012 13:51
- Written by Antonietta Petrella
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A new study looking at more than 50 years worth of data shows that antipsychotic medications for patients with schizophrenia can reduce the risk of relapse by 60 percent. The study also found that schizophrenia patients who are compliant with their medication are significantly less likely to be hospitalized and may have a better life quality than those who do not take their prescribed antipsychotics.
Non-adherence common in schizophrenia patients
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- Parent Category: Schizophrenia
- Category: Schizophrenia Medication
- Published on Friday, 09 December 2011 15:36
- Written by Magpie Media
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A recent study on medication compliance shows that 40 percent of schizophrenia patients do not take their medication as prescribed. The study also showed that the severity of the illness and the patient’s attitude towards medication significantly affected their non-adherence.
“Lack of adherence to medication regimens is a critical issue in the treatment of schizophrenia and has serious impacts on the course of the illness, including worsening of symptoms, relapse, suicidal attempts, repeated emergency room visits or re-hospitalization, and poor functional outcomes,” says Seung-Hyun Kim, of the Korea University Research Institute of Mental Health in Seoul, Korea, and team. “The most common methods of assessing adherence are self-reports and physician reports. However, adherence to medication regimens in patients with schizophrenia may be overestimated by both patients and clinicians.”
An assessment on 51 schizophrenia patients was completed over an eight-week period on medication adherence. The investigation used four different methods of assessment, including pill counts, a self- reporting system, a clinical rating scale, and a Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS), in which a microprocessor on medication bottles records the number of times the bottle is opened.
Mental illness and the media: Are we making progress?
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- Parent Category: Schizophrenia
- Category: Schizophrenia Medication
- Published on Friday, 01 July 2011 14:59
- Written by Michella Mora-Carlisle
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The media's portrayal of mental illness can often be negative, but press isn’t all bad. An increasing number of mental health consumers, caregivers, and professionals want their stories told. But it’s apparently one step forward, two steps back when it comes to spreading a balanced depiction of mental illness to the general public. Just when sensitivity might have been on the rise, another real-life violent crime by someone with a mental illness makes the news.
Months after he allegedly killed six people and attempted to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8, 2011, the exact diagnosis of Jared Lee Loughner (as of press time) remains unknown. Loughner’s unremorseful, smiling mug shot took up half the front cover of newspapers across North America, at least one of which cited Fox News host Glenn Beck as branding Loughner “not just a nut job, but a left-wing nut job.”
