First Episode Psychosis: Respond Sooner Rather Than Later

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FORT WASHINGTON, Md. – Early intervention to help young people with first-time psychosis is important, according to mental health providers at NatCon18, the National Council for Behavioral Health annual conference.

That’s why expanding access to coordinated specialty care (CSC) models – recovery-oriented, team-based approaches to helping identify and treat those dealing with first episode psychosis (FEP) – is critical, they said at the conference last week. Experts focused on first episode psychosis, offered practical advice for providers, and described the challenges they experienced in implementing CSC.

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Yes, we all wish this type of treatment would have happened for our loved family members.

I used to hate thinking about it because knowing what works and that it’s unavailable is very painful.

Really though, any suffering and debilitation from this disease that can be prevented should be prevented.

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Thank you posting that article, we are in our 8th week of this journey and I have read that getting treatment early on is absolutely essential for the patient’s future and quality of life.
I say 8th week, but the more I know about the illness this has definitely been coming on for a while; possibly even elementary school.

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About the same here, with my son. His first psychotic break was at the beginning of March… but when I met with his psychiatrist it quickly became obvious we’ve been dealing with this for several years.

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This article is hopeful and still heart-breaking. My son is 20, and he did 15 days at the acute hospital & the same at an outpatient treatment center. Although his follow-up appts were made for him, he refuses to go. He has no transportation of his own (which I like that they address such a basic, often overlooked, need in the article) and when I go to take him he refuses to come with me. He went to only 1 therapy session & says he doesn’t like his therapist. Even though I have explained he can choose a different therapist he refuses to go… I feel like I’m the only one advocating for his care. He needs a team, as mentioned in this article. I know this is a critical time for him, but I’m not sure how to help him get the extended care he needs. It feels like we are going backwards oftentimes now.

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Here’s a pdf with a list of First Episode Psychosis programs in each US state. I hope there is one very near you @Ohana and @glendalegirl.

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My son was fortunate to participate in one of these programs. They keep their caseloads low to be able to focus more intensively on each client. The therapists frequently texted my son and would meet him at a coffee shop and even came to the house a few times. My son didn’t take advantage of all the offerings but he participated enough to get back to stability and maintain it for a year before moving onto a private provider. I am incredibly grateful that my community had a FEP program.

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