Major
New Initiative in Schizophrenia
Researchers
in the First Episode Psychosis Program at the Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health (CAMH) have joined with colleagues at four other North American
universities including Yale University and the University of Calgary to
carry out an innovative new study in schizophrenia.
The
researchers are embarking on this early intervention study to determine
whether treating individuals considered to be at very high risk for developing
schizophrenia can prevent the onset of illness and the subsequent deterioration
in functioning. If this prevention is effective, it could greatly improve
the quality of life of many people as they would be spared the experience
of acute psychosis, the stigma of being mentally ill and the disability
so often experienced by those with schizophrenia.
Because
of the severe side effects of the older antipsychotic medications, it
was inconceivable to do this type of study until now. The new generation
of antipsychotic medications, which have far fewer side effects, have
made the possibility of this study a reality. In addition, researchers
in Australia, have been successful in developing criteria for identifying
people at high risk of developing psychosis. Using these criteria, this
new study involves treating individuals at risk to determine whether it
is possible to prevent or delay the onset of psychosis.
Schizophrenia
is considered to be the most severe and devastating of mental illnesses.
It strikes its victims in their youth, as teenagers and young adults,
and is characterized by prominent paranoid delusions, hallucinations and
deterioration in functioning. Schizophrenia has usually been considered
a chronic illness as many affected individuals experience ongoing disability.
In
the 1990s, there has been a surge of interest in treating schizophrenia
aggressively as early in the illness as possible. Since 1992, the First
Episode Psychosis Program at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, now the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, has treated many hundreds of young
people experiencing psychotic symptoms including hallucinations and delusions
for the first time through medical and psychosocial therapies. The work
at the Centre and the work internationally has led to the realization
that many of those treated for the first time will have an excellent response
to treatment and a good chance of full recovery.
Experts
in the treatment of schizophrenia internationally have now become interested
in the exciting possibility of intervening when the earliest warning signs
of the illness are first apparent which is typically many months before
the acute and bizarre symptoms first appear. Schizophrenia usually develops
slowly over many months and sometimes years, and it has now become clear
that it takes those affected between one to two years to seek treatment
by which point much of the functional deterioration has already taken
place. The delay in treatment occurs in part because once the paranoia
and hallucinations become prominent, the capacity to appreciate that medical
help is needed is often lost.
The
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health was created in 1998 through the
successful merger of the Addiction Research Foundation, the Clarke Institute
of Psychiatry, the Queen Street Mental Health Centre and the Donwood Institute.
Building on the legacies of four outstanding organizations, the Centre
offers a unique model for understanding and helping people with addiction
and mental illness, for preventing substance abuse and for promoting mental
health. It operates central clinical and research facilities in Toronto,
Ontario, as well as 12 community offices across the province. While the
Centre's work focuses on the needs of Ontario communities, its impact
extends across the country and internationally.
For more information, please contact Christa Haanstra, Public Affairs
at (416) 595-6015 or by pager at (416) 664-4652; email Christa_Haanstra@camh.net.
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1-800-463-6273
