Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I History and concepts
- Part II Studies and findings
- 3 Studies on brief and acute psychoses
- 4 Frequency and sociobiographic characteristics of acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPD) and brief psychoses (BP)
- 5 The clinical features of the acute episode
- 6 Treatment
- 7 The longitudinal course
- 8 The long-term outcome
- 9 Suicidal behaviour
- 10 Comorbidity and somatic findings
- Part III Issues of nosology
- References
- Index
8 - The long-term outcome
from Part II - Studies and findings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I History and concepts
- Part II Studies and findings
- 3 Studies on brief and acute psychoses
- 4 Frequency and sociobiographic characteristics of acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPD) and brief psychoses (BP)
- 5 The clinical features of the acute episode
- 6 Treatment
- 7 The longitudinal course
- 8 The long-term outcome
- 9 Suicidal behaviour
- 10 Comorbidity and somatic findings
- Part III Issues of nosology
- References
- Index
Summary
When, in this chapter, the ‘outcome’ of the disorders investigated is described, it has to be borne in mind that the term ‘outcome’ is a difficult and problematic term (Strauss and Carpenter, 1972; Marneros et al., 1991b; Davidson and McGlashan, 1997; Riecher-Rössler and Rössler, 1998). Any single definition of ‘outcome’ must be arbitrary for two reasons. Firstly, the outcome of a mental disorder as something unchangeable and definitive only rarely exists. It would be incorrect to connect the notion of outcome with something ‘final’ and ‘unchangeable’ since alterations in psychopathological and social status, changes in psychological and social functioning, remission or deterioration are always possible during life. The term outcome is therefore only a compromise describing the status of the patient at a point following a period of time after the onset of illness (Marneros et al., 1990c). Secondly, the term outcome has various meanings (e.g. it may refer to persisting psychopathological symptoms or symptom-free periods, to the presence or absence of disability, to persisting alterations of personality, or to restrictions of the patient's social status or functioning). There is no favourable or unfavourable outcome, but there is a continuum between ‘full health’ and ‘full disability’. In psychiatric populations, both ends of the continuum are the exception rather than the rule. In this sense, in the following chapters, various aspects of ‘outcome’ are described, including global functioning, disability, psychological impairment, autarky, persisting symptomatology, interpersonal relations, etc.
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- Information
- Acute and Transient Psychoses , pp. 143 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004