A Study of Factors Associated with Relapse in Schizophrenia

In our study, demographic factors like education, marital status, background and clinical features like family history of psychosis, duration of untreated illness and adverse life events were not associated with relapse in schizophrenia. Patients with relapse have more positive features but did not differ from remitted patients in terms of negative features or general psychopathology. The findings of our study suggest that negative attitude towards psychiatric medication which indirectly indicated non compliance, severe illness characterized by number of hospitalizations, unemployment and poor insight may be causally related to relapse in schizophrenia. The identification of these specific factors will help in reducing the risk of relapse in patients with schizophrenia. Various measures like psycho education can be given to improve drug compliance, attempts can be made to increase insight as an early intervention strategy to aid successful treatment and reduction in hospitalization can be brought about. Relapse prevention is a major goal of treatment for patients with schizophrenia. Lowering rates of relapse decreases patient suffering, the disruption of relationships between patients and their families, and the societal costs of providing care for patients with schizophrenia. With the successful prevention of relapse, patients with schizophrenia can achieve their full potential with regard to work and social relationships. The societal costs of treating patients with schizophrenia can be lessened by employing these strategies that decrease relapse and the need for rehospitalisation, the costliest treatment alternative