Patients with a first episode of schizophrenia spectrum psychosis and their pathways to psychiatric hospital care in South Germany.

BACKGROUND: Several first-episode studies of schizophrenia suggest that many patients experience psychotic symptoms for a long time before receiving appropriate treatment. To reduce the time of untreated psychosis, it is necessary to know the patients' pathways to psychiatric care. This study was designed to examine patients' help-seeking contacts and the delays on their pathways to psychiatric care in Germany.
METHOD: Sixty-six patients with first episode of schizophrenia spectrum psychosis were assessed by the Interview for the Retrospective Assessment of the Onset of Schizophrenia (IRAOS) and were interviewed about their help-seeking contacts before psychiatric admission.
RESULTS: In contrast to other findings of long duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), 53% of our patients were admitted after 8 weeks (median) of untreated positive symptoms, although the mean value of 71 weeks corresponds well with the results of other studies. There were important differences in DUP depending on which kind of statistical parameter (median or mean) was used. In contrast to studies from other countries, only 18% of our patients had their first contact with a general practitioner. However, this was the fastest way to psychiatric admission. No differences were found between patients with short (< 1 year) and long (> 1 year) DUP in the duration of time from the first help-seeking contact up to admission.
CONCLUSION: In Germany, a large number of mental health professionals in private practice or different services of psychosocial contact facilities exist in every region and general practitioners are not so important as a link to psychiatric care, although they seem to be functioning well if it is necessary. Therefore, programs designed to reduce the delay of treatment should focus less on general practitioners than on other health services.