Community-Based Treatment Beats Facilities in Low-Income Country Schizophrenia Study

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Treatment by lay health workers is more effective than standard facility-based care at reducing disability and psychotic symptoms in people with schizophrenia diagnoses, according to research published yesterday in The Lancet. Findings from the first randomized trial to test community-based care against standard care in a low-income country “show even more positive outcomes than similar trials of collaborative community-based care in high-income countries.”

Abstract →

Chatterjee, S., Naik, S., John, S., Dabholkar, H., et al.; Effectiveness of a community-based intervention for people with schizophrenia and their caregivers in India (COPSI): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. Online March 5, 2014. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62629-X

Of further interest:
Community-based schizophrenia treatment in low income countries better than facility care (The Journal)
Milestone study shows benefits of community-based treatment of schizophrenia (Medical Xpress)

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Kermit Cole
Kermit Cole, MFT, founding editor of Mad in America, works in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a couples and family therapist. Inspired by Open Dialogue, he works as part of a team and consults with couples and families that have members identified as patients. His work in residential treatment — largely with severely traumatized and/or "psychotic" clients — led to an appreciation of the power and beauty of systemic philosophy and practice, as the alternative to the prevailing focus on individual pathology. A former film-maker, he has undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology from Harvard University, as well as an MFT degree from the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia. He is a doctoral candidate with the Taos Institute and the Free University of Brussels. You can reach him at [email protected].

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