Article

Symptomatic remission in psychosis and real-life functioning.

Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, PO Box 616 (VIJV), 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. .
The British journal of psychiatry: the journal of mental science (impact factor: 6.62). 06/2012; 201:215-20. DOI:10.1192/bjp.bp.111.104414 pp.215-20
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT In 2005 Andreasen proposed criteria for remission in schizophrenia. It is unclear whether these criteria reflect symptom reduction and improved social functioning in daily life.
To investigate whether criteria for symptomatic remission reflect symptom reduction and improved functioning in real life, comparing patients meeting remission criteria, patients not meeting these criteria and healthy controls.
The Experience Sampling Method (ESM), a structured diary technique, was used to explore real-life symptoms and functioning in 177 patients with (remitted and non-remitted) schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 148 controls.
Of 177 patients, 70 met criteria for symptomatic remission. These patients reported significantly fewer positive and negative symptoms and better mood states compared with patients not in remission. Furthermore, patients in remission spent more time in goal-directed activities and had less preference for being alone when they were with others. However, the patient groups did not differ on time spent in social company and doing nothing, and both the remission and non-remission groups had lower scores on functional outcome measures compared with the control group.
The study provides an ecological validation for the symptomatic remission criteria, showing that patients who met the criteria reported fewer positive symptoms, better mood states and partial recovery of reward experience compared with those not in remission. However, remission status was not related to functional recovery, suggesting that the current focus on symptomatic remission may reflect an overly restricted goal.

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    Article: Neuropsychological and socio-occupational functioning in young psychiatric outpatients: a longitudinal investigation.
    Rico S C Lee, Daniel F Hermens, M Antoinette Redoblado-Hodge, Sharon L Naismith, Melanie A Porter, Manreena Kaur, Django White, Elizabeth M Scott, Ian B Hickie
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
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    PLoS ONE 01/2013; 8(3):e58176. · 4.09 Impact Factor
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Keywords

control group
 
current focus
 
functional outcome measures
 
functional recovery
 
goal-directed activities
 
healthy controls
 
mood states
 
non-remission groups
 
non-remitted
 
overly restricted goal
 
partial recovery
 
patient groups
 
patients
 
patients meeting remission criteria
 
real life
 
real-life symptoms
 
social company
 
structured diary technique
 
symptomatic remission
 
symptomatic remission criteria