Schizophrenia: early warning signs

Relapse in schizophrenia remains common and cannot be entirely eliminated even by the best combination of biological and psychosocial interventions (Linszen et al , 1998). Relapse prevention is crucial as each relapse may result in the growth of residual symptoms (Shepherd et al , 1989) and accelerating social disablement (Hogarty et al , 1991). Many patients feel ‘entrapped’ by their illnesses, a factor highly correlated with depression (Birchwood et al , 1993), and have expressed a strong interest in learning to recognise and prevent impending psychotic relapse.