Consensus statement: Schizophrenia

Abstract

In Denmark, as in many other countries, the conditions for people with schizophrenia are being thoroughly discussed. To obtain answers to some of the many questions connected with this problem, the Danish Medical Research Council and the Danish Hospital Institute held a medical consensus development conference on 24-26 February 1992 in Copenhagen. The consensus statement is hereby presented in English. The statement was prepared by the members of the panel, a group of 17 people specially selected for the purpose. The panel was informed by a group of 14 experts. The statement demands a further coordination of the psychiatric, the psychologic, and the social efforts as well as an increase in research, development, and education. It is concluded that the community psychiatric services and the services of the municipal authorities do not reach the extent that was to be expected after the extensive reduction of psychiatric hospital beds during the past 20 years. The question is put forward whether a large number of persons with schizophrenia are in need of “asylums” which could be used for stays for shorter or longer periods as an alternative to discharge to the patient's own home or to inappropriate sheltered housing.