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Review

Improving physical health of patients with severe mental disorders: a critical review of lifestyle psychosocial interventions

, , , , , , , , , & show all
Pages 667-681 | Received 09 May 2016, Accepted 27 Apr 2017, Published online: 15 May 2017
 

ABSTRACT

Introduction: People with severe mental disorders have a mortality rate that is more than two times higher than the general population, with at least a decade of potential years of life lost. People with mental disorders have a significantly higher risk of obesity, hyperglycemia and metabolic syndrome, which are related to modifiable risk factors, such as heavy smoking, poor physical activities, and inappropriate unhealthy diet, which can be improved through lifestyle changes.

Areas covered: Lifestyle behaviours are amenable to change through the adoption of specific psychosocial interventions, and several approaches have been promoted. In the present review, the authors aim to: 1) critically analyze studies involving multimodal lifestyle interventions; 2) discuss the way forward to integrate these interventions in clinical routine care.

Expert commentary: The psychoeducational approaches developed for the improvement of healthy lifestyle behaviours differ for several aspects: 1) the format (individual vs. group); 2) the setting (outpatient vs. inpatient vs. home-based); 3) the professional characteristics of the staff running the intervention (psychiatrists or nurses or dietitians or psychologists); 4) the active ingredients of the intervention (education only or inclusion of motivational interview or of problem solving); 5) the duration of treatment (ranging from 3 months to 2 years).

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.

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