[The conceptual re-evaluation of therapeutic success in schizophrenia]

The development of new therapeutic approaches is considered to be a major contributor to the re-evaluation of therapeutic outcomes in schizophrenia. The present review accentuates the recent dimensional concept of improvement, including the integration of social and clinical aspects of different treatment approaches together with the culture-specific pragmatic concept of the therapeutic success. The outpatient status of the patient in itself is no longer recognised as a final success of the therapy, if the very basic aspects of self-management and performance, education and employment of the schizophrenic patients are not properly resolved. Thus the symptomatic therapy alone, without the amelioration of social skills, can no longer be recognised as a satisfying therapeutic target. Novel sensitive possibilities of the measurement of functional improvement were recently introduced in order to facilitate both the development of a personalized, efficient treatment and the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy in schizophrenia.