SPECIAL REPORT

Comment by Dr. William MacEwan

In recent years, the goals of schizophrenia management have moved beyond the traditional model of treating positive and negative symptoms to a more holistic approach that emphasizes functional recovery, psychosocial functioning and quality of life (QoL) (Juckel & Morosini. Curr Opin Psychiatry 2008;21:630-639). Indeed, over a decade ago, Naber and colleagues proposed that quality of life should be considered as important as psychopathology in managing patients with schizophrenia (Naber et al. Schizophr Res 2001;50:79-88). To be sure, achieving symptomatic remission with antipsychotic medications is the necessary first step to functional recovery (Kokaçya et al. Noro Psikiyatr Ars 2016;53:328-333), and the prevention of clinical relapses will have the greatest impact on QoL (Briggs et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes 2008;6:105-13). A caveat, however, is that clinical effectiveness alone may not necessarily translate to improvements in QoL and patient self-rated life satisfaction, as the Clinical Antipsychotic Trial of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study reported (Fervaha et al. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2014;24:1078-1085). Read More