TIPS - Inclusion
Inclusion criteria are as follows:
1. The patient is listed in the national register as:
living in Rogaland county or
living in Oslo and residing in Ullevål sector or
living in Roskilde county and residing in one of the following communes. Greve, Lejre, Gundsø, Hvalsø, Bramsnæs or Ramsø.
2. The patient is over 18 years old (15 years in Rogaland) and below 65 years old, and speaks sufficient Norwegian (Danish).
3. The patient meets the criteria in DSM-IV for schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, brief psychotic disorder, affective psychoses with mood incongruent features or psychotic disorders NOS.
4. The patient is (or in cases of brief psychosis, has recently been) active psychotic with symptoms of delusions, hallucinations, disturbed thinking, unsuitable/bizarre behaviour which cannot clearly be explained by organic reasons. The symptoms must have lasted the whole day for several days or several times a week for several weeks, not limited to some brief moments. In addition the patient must score at least 4 on one or more of the following PANSS symptoms: P1 (delusions), P3 (hallucinations), P5 (grandiose thinking), P6 (suspiciousness) and A9 (unusual thought content).
5. Actual episode is the first episode of the condition that is being adequately treated. I.e. the patient has not received neuroleptic treatment, 16 mg pherfenazine/day or zuclepenthixol or equivalent doses (see list over equivalent doses in the appendix) for more than 12 weeks in this episode or previous episodes. (Patients with a previous untreated episode followed by residual symptoms are considered as first episode with DUP from start of episode 1. When the patient has had an earlier untreated episode of psychosis with full remission, DUP is defined as duration of first episode plus the duration of actual episode.
6. There are no known medical contradictions for use of neuroleptics
7. There are no known neurological or endocrine disorders that may have caused the presenting psychotic symptoms.
8. The patient is not mentally retarded with an IQ below 70.
9. The patient is able and willing to give informed consent. A patient whose diagnosis is changed to a diagnosis that is not included in the project
