Latest news with #schizoaffective
Medscape
5 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
Clozapine Shows Better Results in Schizoaffective Disorder
TOPLINE: A real-world trial showed that in adults with dual psychosis, clozapine was effective in alleviating psychotic and affective symptoms, with better outcomes being observed in schizoaffective disorder (SZD) than in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). METHODOLOGY: Researchers conducted a prospective, pragmatic clinical trial from 2021 to 2024 in Spain and included 127 participants with refractory psychosis (mean age, 38.5 years; 74.8% men). Participants were divided into three arms: those with TRS receiving clozapine (TRS-clozapine; n = 43), those with TRS receiving optimised standard antipsychotics (TRS-control; n = 42), and those with SZD receiving clozapine (SZD-clozapine; n = 42; non-randomised due to low prevalence). Monthly assessments over 3 months included the use of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale, and Udvalg für Kliniske Undersogelser (UKU) scale. Researchers evaluated the efficacy of clozapine in patients with TRS, the effect of clozapine on real-world SZD psychotic and affective symptoms, and the response and tolerability to clozapine in patients with TRS vs SZD. TAKEAWAY: Compared with the TRS-control group, the TRS-clozapine group had greater 3-month reductions in PANSS positive, negative, and total (P/N/T) scores (P < .001 for all) and CDSS (P < .001), CGI (P < .001), and MADRS (P = .003) scores, whereas the SZD-clozapine group showed rapid, significant improvements in psychotic scale scores (PANSS-P, P = .027; PANSS-N, P = .002; and PANSS-T, P = .005) and YMRS, MADRS, and CDSS scores (P < .001 for all) from month 1 to month 3. The SZD-clozapine group showed greater reductions in the following scores than the TRS‐clozapine group at 3 months: PANSS-P (-23.4 vs -19.3), PANSS-T (-68.7 vs -63.0), YMRS (-15.3 vs -4.9), MADRS (-8.4 vs -6.0), and CDSS (-5.4 vs -4.1). Patients receiving clozapine reported better subjective treatment perception (P < .01) and required fewer adjunct antipsychotics and sedatives, and clozapine emerged as the sole independent predictor of superior symptom and substance use outcomes. Clozapine was well tolerated in both groups, with no serious treatment-related adverse events. Mild drowsiness or asthenia was observed, which was managed by lowering co-medication doses. UKU side effect scores also reduced from month 2 onwards. IN PRACTICE: "[The study] findings have direct clinical implications, reinforcing the evidence supporting the use of CLZ [clozapine] in dual psychosis and expanding therapeutic options for SZD," the authors wrote. "Moving forward, efforts to improve clozapine use should focus on enhancing clinician education, standardising knowledge sources and promoting best practices in its management. Additionally, the development of well-designed long-term studies will be essential," they added. SOURCE: This study was led by Marc Peraire, Consorci Hospitalari Provincial de Castelló, Castellón de la Plana, Spain. It was published online on August 1 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by incomplete patient histories and the absence of antisuicidal efficacy measures. Additional constraints were the lack of comparison between dual-disorder and pure psychosis cohorts, unstable diagnostic labels, gender imbalance, a single-site design, potential overfitting in regression models, and a relatively short follow-up period. DISCLOSURES: This study received financial support from the Research Foundation of the Provincial Hospital of Castellón. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Oxfordshire mental health garden 'completely transforms lives'
A private garden dedicated to supporting people who have experienced serious mental illness can "completely transform lives", its director has told the charity Bridewell Gardens, in Wilcote near Witney, includes a walled garden and organic vineyard spread over more than six acres (2.4 hectares), and recently featured on an episode of Gardeners' site is looked after by people recovering from serious mental health issues, and is usually closed to the Sunday, there will be an open day at the garden between 11:00 and 16:00 BST, giving the public a rare opportunity to explore the estate. Rachel Green was previously a user of the garden after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder -a mental health condition that is marked by a mix of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations and now works there."In 2017 I found myself here as a gardener," she said."I'd been in hospital and some of the other inpatients told me 'you've got to check this place out, it's absolutely beautiful'." Ms Green said she stayed at the garden for two years during her recovery and "absolutely loved it"."I still don't know anything about gardening but I loved following instructions, I loved working as a group and meeting other people," she garden takes patients from across Oxfordshire and has the capacity for up to 16 gardeners each Madder, Bridewell's director, said the site could be "transformative" for those recovering from mental health conditions."When you're in the gardens it's really deceptive, it seems really effortless, but when you listen to staff and you hear from people who have moved on from Bridewell we know that the gardens can completely transform lives," she well as Sunday's open day, Bridewell will also be open to the public this summer on 15 June, 6 July and 7 Green said for the gardeners the days were a "chance to bring their families here and show them, 'this is what I've been doing - I planted this'"."We don't want people to think of us as a secret garden - lots of people describe us that way - but we don't want to be secret, we want to let people know that we're here - the general public, but also people who might want to use our service," she added. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
