Receiving non-medical help as well as antipsychotic drugs could substantially improve outcomes for people suffering from the early stages of schizophrenia. Researchers from the Central South University in Hunan, China studied 1,268 people with early-stage schizophrenia treated between January 2005 and October 2007. 633 of them had extra, non-medical help (psychosocial intervention) while the rest just took drugs. The extra help included instruction for families and caregivers about mental illness, family therapies designed to teach coping and socializing skills, skills training and cognitive therapy. The rates of treatment discontinuation or change were lower in the group getting the extra help (32.8% vs 22.5%). The participants getting extra help also showed greater improvements in insight, social functioning, activities of daily living and quality of life and a higher proportion of them were employed or in education.
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