Acute management of schizophrenia

Abstract

The management of schizophrenia begins with the early recognition of high-risk individuals or those who are experiencing subtle psychotic symptoms prior to a first full episode. Timely and effective interventions at these phases may preclude or attenuate the impact of acute psychosis and favorably alter one's prognosis. In first-episode/early-onset patients, strategies to optimize medication administration and improve adherence can also improve long-term outcomes. In multiepisode patients with acute exacerbations, insufficient benefit and/or safety and tolerability complications are frequent obstacles to achieving stabilization. Thus, the development of alternate strategies is critically important and being actively pursued. At all phases, the goal is to achieve adequate control of symptoms, allowing patients to move from response to remission to recovery.