Women With First-Episode Psychosis Not Getting Targeted Care They Need

Specialty team –based services for first-episode psychosis (FEP) have the potential to improve outcomes among patients with schizophrenia. In anarticle inPsychiatric Services, psychiatrists Maria Ferrara, M.D., and Vinod H. Srihari, M.D., of Yale University described several factors that may disadvantage women in terms of both access to and quality of care in FEP services.Age of onset: Although many FEP services target young adults, research suggests the onset of psychosis may occur later in women. To meet the needs of women of all ages, the authors suggested that FEP programs consider increasing the maximum age at which a patient can receive FEP services. They acknowledged that designing psychosocial interventions to address the needs of younger adults and women across the lifespan may be challenging. Older women, some of whom may be pregnant or have children, might require “more intensive care planning, as well as sustained social worker support for childcare, involvement with child protective services, and consideration of economic needs.”Clinical presentation: Compared with men experiencing FEP, women tend to present with more mood symptoms, which can lead to a misdiagnosis of psychosis due to a primary affective disorder —often a criterion for exclusion from FEP services. Women also tend to have better overall functioning at the onset of psychosis, which can lead to delays in services. To address this issue, the authors recommended FEP services support the needs ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: age clinical presentation FEP first-episode psychosis mood symptoms preventive medicine Psychiatric Services sexual health women Source Type: research