[Sport as applied therapy in patients with schizophrenic psychoses]

Sport as applied therapy in patients with schizophrenic psychoses Abstract. Schizophrenic psychoses are serious mental illnesses associated with low life expectancy compared with healthy individuals and other psychiatric disorders. Overweight and associated health problems such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and smoking-associated lung disease have been shown to be risk factors related to high mortality. Low physical activity and increased sedentary behavior have been identified as the most important behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in people with schizophrenia. Numerous research results show a positive influence of sport on mental symptoms as well as on physical health. In the studies, however, different types of guided movement with divergent intensity were used in group or single setting. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik und Nervenheilkunde [German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics] recommends sports and physical exercise interventions for patients with severe mental illnesses. Still, further large randomized controlled trials are needed to investigate the nature, extent and duration, as well as the effect of the methods used in the various stages of the disease. One goal should be the evidence-based implementation of specific and systematic sport and movement interventions as a complementary module in addition to psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment in people with schizophrenia.