Background: The aims of this study were to describe outcome with respect to persistent psychotic symptoms, relapse of positive symptoms, hospital admissions, and application of treatment by coercion among patients with recent onset schizophrenia being adherent and nonadherent to anti-psychotic medication.

BackgroundChronic widespread pain (CWP) is common and associated with prominent negative consequences. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of persistent CWP in an 11-year prospective cohort study in the general population, and to examine anxiety, depression, alcohol use, poor sleep, body mass index (BMI) and chronic disease, along with demographic, lifestyle and other health-related variables as possible predictors for the assumed CWP persistence.MethodsCWP was defined as having pain at three or more predefined sites (involving the trunk and upper and lower limbs) for at least three months in the last year. We used a Norwegian general population cohort of 28,367 individuals who responded to both the second (1995–1997) and the third (2006–2008) waves of the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT2 and HUNT3, respectively). Data were analysed with logistic regression models.ResultsCWP prevalence in HUNT2 was 17%. Of those reporting CWP in HUNT2, 53% still reported CWP at follow-up in HUNT3. Adjusted analyses revealed that depression and alcohol consumption were not substantially associated with the 11-year prospective CWP outcome. Poor sleep, obesity and chronic disease predicted persistent CWP, and being male and/or 60 years or older was protective.ConclusionsThis cohort study revealed that nearly half of the participants with baseline CWP resolved from CWP 11 years later. Among those whose CWP did not resolve, obesity, sleeping problems and chronic disease predicted CWP persistence, while aging and male sex was protective. Anxiety, mixed anxiety and depression, former smoking, and overweight were weakly associated, while depression, moderate exercise, and alcohol use were not associated with persistent CWP.

Evidence-based treatment achieves greater clinical benefits than pharmacotherapy and case management alone for recent-onset schizophrenia.

This study investigated the effects of the Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS) in adult outpatient treatment at a hospital-based mental health clinic. It also investigated whether the effects differed with the timing of the treatment within a 4-year implementation period, with clients' initial distress levels, and between therapists. Adult clients (N = 170) were randomized to treatment as usual (TAU) or routine outcome monitoring (ROM). Twenty therapists provided therapy in both conditions. Therapy outcome was measured by the Behavior and Symptoms Identification Scale (BASIS-32). Data were analyzed in a series of multilevel models (MLMs). Clients in the ROM condition were 2.5 times more likely to demonstrate improvement than those in the TAU condition. Controlling for therapist variability, the overall effect size (ES) in favor of ROM was small (d = 0.26, p = .037). The superiority for ROM over TAU increased significantly over the duration of the study. ROM effects were not moderated by clients' initial distress levels. Differences between therapists accounted for 9%-10% of the variability in outcomes, and there were no significant differences in ROM effects between therapists. ROM was associated with better treatment outcomes independent of clients' initial distress levels. Clients treated later in the study benefitted more from ROM than those treated earlier. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).