REVIEWER: Marc-André Roy, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada

Remission vs. functional recovery
Continuum of treatment goals

An important goal of schizophrenia management is to reduce the frequency, severity and duration of psychotic episodes (Hasan et al. World J Biol Psychiatry 2012;13: 318-378; Lehman et al. APA, NGC-3572, 2008). Indeed, it has been shown that about 70-80% of first-episode patients do achieve a remission of psychotic symptoms within the first year of treatment (Lieberman et al. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1993;50:369-376). Among patients receiving maintenance antipsychotic therapy, a systematic review estimated that the one-year recurrence rate was only 3%, compared to a 90% risk of relapse at two years in those who discontinued medication (Zipursky et al. Schizophr Res 2014;152:408-414).    Read More