American Psychiatric Association Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders 2004 TREATING SCHIZOPHRENIA: A Quick Reference Guide > TREATING SCHIZOPHRENIA: A Quick Reference Guide Sections: A. Psychiatric Management, 1. Assess symptoms and establish a diagnosis., 2. Formulate and implement a treatment plan., 3. Develop a therapeutic alliance and promote treatment adherence. , 4. Provide patient and family education and therapies. , 5. Treat comorbid conditions, especially major depression, substance use disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder., 6. Attend to the patient's social circumstances and functioning., 7. Integrate treatments from multiple clinicians., 8. Carefully document the treatment, since patients may have different practitioners over their course of illness., B. Acute Phase, 1. Assessment in the Acute Phase, 2. Psychiatric Management in the Acute Phase, 3. Use of Antipsychotic Medications in the Acute Phase, 4. Use of Adjunctive Medications in the Acute Phase, 5. Use of ECT and Other Somatic Therapies in the Acute Phase, 6. Special Issues in Treatment of First-Episode Patients, C. Stabilization Phase, D. Stable Phase, 1. Assessment in the Stable Phase, 2. Psychosocial Treatments in the Stable Phase, 3. Use of Antipsychotic Medications in the Stable Phase, 4. Use of Adjunctive Medications in the Stable Phase, 5. Use of ECT in the Stable Phase, 6. Encourage the Patient and Family to Use Self-Help Treatment Organizations, E. Special Issues in Caring for Patients With Treatment-Resistant Illness, F. Treatment of Deficit Symptoms, G. Choice of Treatment Setting or Housing. Topics Discussed: antipsychotic agents; electroconvulsive therapy; schizophrenia; social work, psychiatric; support groups. Excerpt: "Based on Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients With Schizophrenia, Second Edition, originally published in February 2004. A guideline watch, summarizing significant developments in the scientific literature since publication of this guideline, may be available.Establish an accurate diagnosis, considering other psychotic disorders in the differential diagnosis because of the major implications for short- and long-term treatment planning. If a definitive diagnosis cannot be made but the patient appears prodromally symptomatic and at risk for psychosis, reevaluate the patient frequently...." DOI: 10.1176/appi.books.9780890423370.109113 The content above is only an excerpt. For full access subscribe now or log into your account below. You can also purchase 24- or 48-hour access; learn more Username: Password:   FORGOT your subscriber username and/or password? Get a reminder via email: The email I registered with is:  Not a subscriber? Subscribe Today PsychiatryOnline is a powerful website that features DSM-IV-TR® and The American Journal of Psychiatry as the cornerstones of an unsurpassed collection of psychiatric references, including books, journals, and self-assessment tools. PsychiatryOnline’s innovative platform makes these resources easy and convenient to use, offering Precise and powerful searching across books and journals. Quick pathways to related material. Mobile access from any computer with a Web connection. Ability to download any book section to PDA. Links from bibliographic references to the full text of journal articles. References to material not located in the PsychiatryOnline collection lead you to PubMed. Learn more about PsychiatryOnline Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing PsychiatryOnline@psych.org or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).