[Out-patient treatment and prognosis schizophrenic patients after first hospitalization (author's transl)]

99 schizophrenic patients from the General Mental Hospital in Göttingen who had received hospital treatment for the first time, where, after their discharge from hospital, studied for a period of 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 years. Information was collected with regard to the further progress of the disease on the one hand, and the response to drugs used in treatment on the other. Less than half the patients who had suffered from the disease from several years without receiving any out-patient treatment could not be helped or cured by the following hospital treatment. Over half of them had to be readmitted to hospital at last once (mostly within one year). A persisting or newly developing illness could be ascertained by catamnestic means in about 2/3 of the patients. The post-hospital treatment was left predominantly to the GP. Psycho-social help was generally lacking. Drugs were used regulary as far as could be ascertained in only 1/5 of the patients. In most cases the after-care was stopped after several months. This data shows that the treatment before, during and after hospitalization was in many cases inadequate. For different reasons the therapeutical possibilities hat not been used to their full extent. Due to the strict separation between the out-patient and hospital therapy the schizophrenic patients received treatment too late, for too short a time, and not suited usually to their individual needs.