Illness Insight and Medication Adherence Essential Concepts Insight into illness is neither necessary nor sufficient for adherence to medications. Illness insight is not a simple, all-or-nothing concept, but is dimensional:…
Depression and Suicide Essential Concepts Schizophrenia is a disease with at least 5% mortality: you can die from it young, not merely with it in old age. The cause of…
Cognition in Schizophrenia Essential Concepts Cognitive deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia. How well a patient with schizophrenia will do in life is not determined by positive symptoms but…
Negative Symptoms Essential Concepts Negative symptoms are a core feature of schizophrenia; they have diagnostic and prognostic significance. Negative symptoms comprise two main clusters: reduced affective experiences/expression and amotivation. Avoid…
Refractory Psychosis and Clozapine Essential Concepts Not all patients with schizophrenia have a meaningful response to antipsychotics: 1 patient in 4 benefits little from first-line antipsychotics; 1 in 10 has…
Nicotine Dependence Essential Concepts Seven of ten patients with schizophrenia smoke. Many smokers with schizophrenia are severely addicted to nicotine. Assist smoking patients with schizophrenia in smoking cessation to reduce…
Dual Diagnosis Essential Concepts “Dual diagnosis” patients, as discussed in this chapter, are patients with schizophrenia who also suffer from a drug or alcohol use disorder. Half of patients with…
HIV/AIDS and Serious Mental Illness Essential Concepts Patients with schizophrenia are at increased risk for HIV infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends screening for HIV as…
Medical Morbidity and Mortality Essential Concepts Physical health and wellness matter as much as mental health to patients with schizophrenia. Reducing premature deaths from cardiac disease is an important treatment…
Antipsychotics—Clinical Effectiveness Essential Concepts A large clinical trial, Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE), compared risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone with perphenazine. Only 26% of subjects who entered this…
