Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:59:23.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chronic Schizophrenic Patients in the Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. J. Cheadle
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing, University of Manchester, M13 9PT
H. L. Freeman
Affiliation:
Salford Area Health Authority (Teaching), Hope Hospital, Salford, M6 8HD
J. Korer
Affiliation:
Salford Area Health Authority (Teaching), Prestwich Hospital, Manchester M25 7BL

Summary

A sample of 190 patients, diagnosed as schizophrenic by the same psychiatrist, have been surveyed in an urban community and their clinical and social status assessed. Compared to the local population as a whole, a significantly greater proportion of the men had never married, and although the women had married at approximately the same rate as those in the general population, 25 per cent of them had been divorced by the time of the interview. Assessments of the subjects' clinical condition by the Present State Examination were analysed into four groups of syndromes. Only 27 patients showed schizophrenic or paranoid symptoms, whereas neurotic symptoms were not only prevalent but seemed to cause most of the reported personal problems. Twenty-eight patients were free of symptoms at the time of interview. The great majority of the sample (72 per cent) were being maintained on long-acting neuroleptics. These data will form the baseline to assess a monitoring system, designed to keep the local psychiatric services in touch with schizophrenic patients who might otherwise drop out of treatment.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Freeman, H. L. (1976) Continuity of care in the Mental Health Service. International Journal of Mental Health, 5, 313.Google Scholar
Fryers, T., Freeman, H. L. & Mountney, G. H. (1970) A census of psychiatric patients in an urban community. Social Psychiatry, 5, 187–95.Google Scholar
Korer, J. (1977) Not the Same as You? The Social Situation of 190 Schizophrenics Living in the Community. London: Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.Google Scholar
Leff, J. (1976) The assessment of psychiatric and social state. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 3, Supplement 2, 385–90.Google Scholar
McCowen, P. & Wilder, J. (1975) The Lifestyle of 100 Psychiatric Patients. London: Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.Google Scholar
Office of Population Census and Surveys (1973) 1971 Census for England and Wales. London: HMSO Google Scholar
Venables, P. H. (1968) Experimental psychological studies of chronic schizophrenia. In Studies in Psychiatry (eds Shepherd, N. and Davies, D. L.). London: Oxford University Press Google Scholar
WHO (1975) Schizophrenia: a Multinational Study. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. & Creer, C. (1974) Schizophrenia at Home. London: Institute of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.