Scope for psychosocial treatments in psychosis: an overview of collaborative therapy

Objectives: The psychosocial needs of people with psychotic disorders are not being addressed adequately. The present paper outlines a proposed framework that will help to meet some of this deficit and deliver psychosocial treatments for these individuals, as part of routine clinical practice. Conclusions: The recent Australian study on low prevalence (psychotic) disorders found that, although most Australians (91%) with a psychotic illness were taking medication, few were receiving adequate psychosocial support from mental health services; fully 47% of these saw the need for a particular type of service that was not able to be accessed by them, either because of it simply not being available or not being affordable. The programme described herein will develop, evaluate and disseminate comprehensive modular treatment packages addressing the psychosocial needs of people with psychotic disorders. It is novel in terms of the comprehensiveness of the approach, the rigour of the evaluation (using a controlled experimental design), and the extent of intersectoral and multidisciplinary involvement in mapping needs, developing the interventions, and dissemination. The potential impact for mental health consumers with psychosis is enormous because currently there is no coherent and consistent approach to addressing their psychosocial needs. The impact for the scientific community will be great because there is currently very little by way of controlled trial data in this important area of activity.