Nonadherence to antipsychotics: the role of positive attitudes towards positive symptoms
Standard
Nonadherence to antipsychotics: the role of positive attitudes towards positive symptoms. / Moritz, Steffen; Hünsche, Alexandra ; Lincoln, Tania M.
In: EUR NEUROPSYCHOPHARM, Vol. 24, No. 11, 01.11.2014, p. 1745-1752.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Nonadherence to antipsychotics: the role of positive attitudes towards positive symptoms
AU - Moritz, Steffen
AU - Hünsche, Alexandra
AU - Lincoln, Tania M
N1 - Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/11/1
Y1 - 2014/11/1
N2 - Approximately 50-75% of all patients do not take their antipsychotic medication as prescribed. The current study examined reasons why patients continue versus discontinue antipsychotic medication. We were particularly interested to which extent positive attitudes towards psychotic symptoms foster medication nonadherence. An anonymous online questionnaire was set up to decrease response biases. After a strict selection process, 91 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were retained for the final analyses. On average, 6.2 different reasons for nonadherence were reported. Side-effects (71.4%), sudden subjective symptom improvement (52.4%) and forgetfulness (33.3%) emerged as the most frequent reasons for drug discontinuation. Approximately one fourth of all participants (27.3%) reported at least one positive aspect of psychosis as a reason for nonadherence. In contrast, patients reported on average 3.5 different reasons for adherence (e.g., want to live a normal life (74.6%) and fear of psychotic symptoms (49.3%)). The belief that paranoia represents a survival strategy (subscale derived from the Beliefs about Paranoia Scale) was significantly associated with nonadherence. Patients' attitudes toward medication and the individual illness model need to be carefully considered when prescribing medication. In particular for patients who are likely to discontinue psychopharmacological treatment complementary or alternative psychological treatment should be sought because of a largely increased risk of relapse in the case of sudden drug discontinuation.
AB - Approximately 50-75% of all patients do not take their antipsychotic medication as prescribed. The current study examined reasons why patients continue versus discontinue antipsychotic medication. We were particularly interested to which extent positive attitudes towards psychotic symptoms foster medication nonadherence. An anonymous online questionnaire was set up to decrease response biases. After a strict selection process, 91 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were retained for the final analyses. On average, 6.2 different reasons for nonadherence were reported. Side-effects (71.4%), sudden subjective symptom improvement (52.4%) and forgetfulness (33.3%) emerged as the most frequent reasons for drug discontinuation. Approximately one fourth of all participants (27.3%) reported at least one positive aspect of psychosis as a reason for nonadherence. In contrast, patients reported on average 3.5 different reasons for adherence (e.g., want to live a normal life (74.6%) and fear of psychotic symptoms (49.3%)). The belief that paranoia represents a survival strategy (subscale derived from the Beliefs about Paranoia Scale) was significantly associated with nonadherence. Patients' attitudes toward medication and the individual illness model need to be carefully considered when prescribing medication. In particular for patients who are likely to discontinue psychopharmacological treatment complementary or alternative psychological treatment should be sought because of a largely increased risk of relapse in the case of sudden drug discontinuation.
U2 - 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2014.09.008
DO - 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2014.09.008
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 25444234
VL - 24
SP - 1745
EP - 1752
JO - EUR NEUROPSYCHOPHARM
JF - EUR NEUROPSYCHOPHARM
SN - 0924-977X
IS - 11
ER -