Patients’ health literacy in psychotic disorders

Ghassen Saba, Lila Mékaoui, Marion Leboyer, Franck Schürhoff

AP-HP, Groupe Henri Mondor-Albert Chenevier, Pôle de Psychiatrie, Créteil, F-94000, France; INSERM Unité 841, IMRB, Département de Génétique, Equipe 15, Créteil, F-94000, France; Université Paris 12, Faculté de Médecine, IFR10, Créteil, F-94000, France

Abstract: Compliance and relapse are major issues in the treatment of psychotic disorders. About 50% of subjects with schizophrenia do not comply with treatment and relapse rates of 65% are reported after one year and 80% after two years. Drug treatments are effective against psychotic symptoms, but cannot promote functional recovery or prevent relapses when prescribed alone. The factors influencing compliance include side effects and the patients’ awareness of their illness. Psychosocial interventions, cognitive remediation and psychotherapy have been proposed as adjuvant treatments to increase compliance and to decrease the rate of relapse. Most of these interventions have been shown to increase compliance and to decrease the rate of relapse, but the most robust results have been achieved with cognitive behavioral therapy.

Keywords: schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, compliance, antipsychotics, cognitive remediation