[Schizophrenics in the doctor's office. Diagnostic and therapeutic aspects]

The diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia is usually an interdisciplinary affair, with particular stress on cooperation between family doctor and psychiatrist. The practicing physician has a major role to play in the recognition of early schizophrenia. For reasons of time and the fact that further specialist diagnostic measures are mostly required, he will, as a rule, have to restrict himself to screening examinations. Patients with a positive screening outcome will be referred to a specialized early-recognition center or a specialist clinic for further diagnostic clarification. But the family doctor also has an important role in the treatment of these patients, e.g. when physical comorbidity presents, the patient rejects treatment by a psychiatrist, or has an early form of schizophrenia or a relapse. Today, medical treatment employs atypical neuroleptics, and treatment should be initiated as early as possible.