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Published on: April 23, 2014
Pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia
Ary Gadelha1, Cristiano Souza Noto, Jair de Jesus Mari
1Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil.
Background:
A lack of human and financial resources, as well as effective health systems, leads to a worldwide treatment gap for schizophrenia. The aim of this paper is to propose evidence-based antipsychotics interventions for people with schizophrenia with special focus in low and middle income countries (LAMIC) reality.
Method:
A comprehensive search was conducted to locate the main clinical trials, reviews and relevant meta-analyses, and a number of the main recent international clinical practice guidelines.
Results:
First- and second-generation antipsychotics are similarly effective in the acute treatment of psychotic symptoms. In LAMIC, the treatment of choice for medical treatment of psychotic conditions is the group of so-called 'first generation antipsychotics' (FGAs) preferentially delivered in a community-based service model.
Conclusions:
Although the symptomatic control is essential, it is not the ultimate goal of treatment. The main aim of treatment is to improve functional recovery and social reintegration of patients.
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