Since the introduction of atypical antipsychotics success criteria of an effective antipsychotic treatment are more comprehensive. For instance these criteria include negative symptoms as well as cognitive deficits which are both important for the long-term prognosis of schizophrenia. However, the most fundamental change was the inclusion of the patients' perspective with respect to the treatment. Quality of life assessments as well as evaluation of subjective well-being are of increasing scientific interest and have been assessed in numerous studies. Accordingly there has been ascertained that schizophrenic patients are indeed able to fill out self reports consistently and reliably and it has been shown that patients' perspective differs enormously from the evaluation of psychiatrists with regard to antipsychotic treatment. In consideration of the variety of atypical antipsychotics and different resulting effects for compliance and prognosis of schizophrenia it seems needful to strengthen patients' perspective as an important success criterion of antipsychotic treatment.
