“What I found in a relatively large sample was that the more adherent patients were to their medication, the more likely they were to report adequate satisfaction with their life,” Dr. Glick said. For those who were not adherent, life in general “has been a disaster.”
This finding is not entirely surprising given the power of antipsychotics to change thinking. However, for those engaged in the immediate task of controlling acute symptoms, the importance of chronicity might not be given adequate emphasis. This requires educating patients and their families about the need to embark on lifetime treatment, Dr. Glick said. Like a diagnosis of diabetes, a diagnosis of schizophrenia means constant vigilance for manifestations of disease and appropriate adjustments of therapy to improve long-term outcomes.
Since evaluating the relationship between medication adherence and long-term outcomes in patients with schizophrenia treated at Stanford, the same type of evaluation was conducted with population samples from the Veterans Affairs system and from China. The data “show exactly the same thing,” Dr. Glick said.
It is important to use every available resource in helping patients recognize and deal with schizophrenia chronicity.