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• Posted September 25, 2024

Most People With Schizophrenia Aren't Getting Treated

Only 1 in every 4 U.S. adults struggling with schizophrenia receive "minimally adequate treatment," new data shows.

Many of these patients also struggle with other mental health issues, such as substance abuse or depression, and they are further challenged by social and economic hardship, according to the new report.

The data comes from the U.S. Mental and Substance Use Disorders Prevalence Study, which surveyed almost 4,800 adults aged 18 to 65 between 2020 and 2022. The study is sponsored by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA).

A total of 114 of those surveyed had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to researchers led by Natalie Bareis. She's an assistant professor of clinical behavioral medicine at Columbia University in New York City.

Bareis' team found that, besides being diagnosed with schizophrenia, more than half (52%) of these patients also had depression, while 17% had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Suicidal thoughts ad attempts were much more common among these patients, as well.

Nearly a quarter (23%) also had alcohol use disorder and 20% also used cannabis.

Health care coverage was available to nearly all of the 114 patients with schizophrenia, and 70% had received some form of mental health treatment over the prior year.

However, adequate levels of treatment were rare. For example, just 30% of patients were taking an antipsychotic medication at the time they were interviewed, Bareis' team found.

The treatment of schizophrenia has improved over the past few decades, Bareis and her team noted.

So, "we had hoped that during this period, with the advent of new treatments and services, the circumstances of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders would have improved," Bareis said in a news release from the American Psychiatric Association.

"Instead, persistent high rates of poverty, unemployment and poor functioning suggest that existing treatment and social welfare approaches are not meeting the needs of many people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders," she added.

Indeed, the new data showed that most adults with schizophrenia in the new study were unemployed, and most had "serious functional impairment."

Help is available, Bareis' team said.

According to the news release, "antipsychotic medications, individual placement and support, programs to promote employment, assertive community treatment, and coordinated specialty care for first-episode psychosis," can all work together to help improve the lives of people with schizophrenia.

However, according to Bareis, "policies to improve access to and use of existing evidence-based interventions are essential.”

The new findings were published Sept. 23 in the journal Psychiatric Services.

More information

Find out more about schizophrenia and its treatment at Mental Health America.

SOURCE: American Psychiatric Association, news release, Sept. 23, 2024