Early intervention in psychosis. Should we broaden the scope for action throughout the age span?

ABSTRACT

Early intervention for psychosis (EIP) programmes have attracted significant interest over the last three decades. It is generally agreed these initiatives are important, with demonstrated improvements in recovery rates and cost effectiveness. EIP programmes were originally designed with a youth focus, however it is known that psychosis presents across the age span and impacts at all life stages. These facts, added to the statistics on world ageing, justify rethinking whether EIP programmes are required across a broader age range.

KEYWORDS:

• Early intervention in psychosis
• old age
• outcome

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the editor and reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical standards

This paper did not involve human or animal experimentation. The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committee on human experimentation with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. The senior author asserts that ethical approval for the publication of this paper was not required by the local Ethics Committee.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.