http://www.diseasesforall.info/?p=2795
More than two million people in the United States have a diagnosis of
schizophrenia, and the treatment for most of them mainly involves strong
doses of antipsychotic drugs that blunt hallucinations and delusions but can
come with unbearable side effects, like severe weight gain or debilitating
tremors.
Now, results of a landmark government-funded study call that approach into
question. The findings, from by far the most rigorous trial to date conducted
in the United States, concluded that schizophrenia patients who received a
program intended to keep dosages of antipsychotic medication as low as
possible and emphasize one-on-one talk therapy and family support made
greater strides in recovery over the first two years of treatment than
patients who got the usual drug-focused care.
The report, to be published on Tuesday in The American Journal of Psychiatry
and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, comes as Congress
debates mental health reform and as interest in the effectiveness of
treatments grows amid a debate over the possible role of mental illness in
mass shootings.
Its findings have already trickled out to government agencies: On Friday, the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published in its influential
guidelines a strong endorsement of the combined-therapy approach. Mental
health reform bills now being circulated in Congress “mention the study by
name,” said Dr. Robert K. Heinssen, the director of services and
intervention research at the National Institute of Mental Health, who oversaw
the research.
In 2014, Congress awarded $25 million in block grants to the states to be set
aside for early-intervention mental health programs. So far, 32 states have
begun using those grants to fund combined-treatment services, Dr. Heinssen
said.
※ 編輯: newwords (180.206.12.123), 06/29/2016 21:44:30