Access, Detection and Psychological Treatments

Schizophrenia is one of society's most costly medical conditions and the most severe among psychiatric disorders. One of the most important and exciting new concepts in psychiatry is that detection and intervention very early in the course of schizophrenia offers what may be the field's best practical hope for realizing substantive improvements in the outcome of schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Thus, we propose a five year program that focuses on three interconnected major research streams: (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a model-driven psychological intervention in preventing or delaying the onset of a psychotic illness; (2) a qualitative study of the pathways to mental health at this time of very high risk; and (3) an exploration of the burden to the healthcare and informal caregiver systems associated with this high risk population.