Drug refusal among schizophrenic patients treated in the community

Abstract

Variable present and historical rates of compliance with antipsychotic treatment were found among 54 patients with DSM III R schizophrenia treated in the community. Drug refusal was found to be significantly associated with more severe positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, lower insight, and also with low knowledge of treatment and low pre-morbid IQ. Patients on oral antipsychotic medication showed a trend towards having more compliant attitudes to medication than depot treated patients. The traditional dichotomous view of compliance was critically examined in view of the study findings, and implications for therapeutic approaches to the most severely ill, most intellectually impaired and least insightful group, which is most likely to be the refusing group, were considered.