Abstract :
Early
Intervention services with team-based intensive case management and family
involvement are superior to standard treatment in reducing psychotic and
negative symptoms and comorbid substance abuse and improving social functioning
and user satisfaction. The results of the OPUS-trial will be presented
together with meta-analyses based on similar trials. The implementation of OPUS
all over Denmark will be presented together with the Danish OPUS-fidelity
study.
Specialized elements are being developed such as inclusion of new
methods in CBT for psychotic and negative symptoms, neurocognitive and social
cognitive training programs, interventions for supported employment and focus
on physical health.
Results of long term follow-up studies indicate that the prognosis of
first episode psychosis is very diverse with the extremes represented by one
group being well functioning and able to quit medication without relapse; and
another group having a long term chronic course of illness with a need for
support to maintain daily activities. The Danish TAILOR-trial – testing dose reduction
versus maintenance therapy will be presented.
It will be of immense value to be able to intervene in risk groups
identified in the premorbid phase, and there are few examples of ongoing trial
for children of parent with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Short biography:
Merete Nordentoft is Professor in Psychiatry,
University of Copenhagen. Merete Nordentoft played a leading role in developing
and implementing early intervention services in Denmark. She is an expert in
epidemiology, suicidal behaviour, psychopathology and early intervention in
psychosis. She has led the process from research to implementation of early
intervention services all over Denmark. Professor Nordentoft has worked with
suicide prevention at a national level since 1997 and together with a group of
epidemiologists from Nordic countries, she has demonstrated that life
expectancy for people with schizophrenia is 15 to 20 years shorter than in the
general population. Professor Nordentoft was given the prestigious awards: The
Golden Scalpel, Global Excellence in Health, and the Richard Wyatt Award.
She was the president of IEPA from 2012 to 2014, and chairperson of the
scientific committee for the IEPA conferences in 2014 and 2016
Reference List
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(2)
Secher RG, Hjorthoj CR, Austin SF, Thorup A, Jeppesen P, Mors O et al. Ten-year
follow-up of the OPUS specialized early intervention trial for patients with a
first episode of psychosis. Schizophr Bull 2015; 41(3):617-626.
(3) Speyer H, Christian Brix NH, Birk M, Karlsen M,
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(4) Thorup AA,
Jepsen JR, Ellersgaard DV, Burton BK, Christiani CJ, Hemager N et al. The
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7-year-old children born of parents diagnosed with either schizophrenia,
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