Maintenance medication for schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients.

This study assesses the different approaches to treating patients with schizoaffective and paranoid schizophrenia in remission. Individualized treatment of 220 outpatient schizophrenia patients was conducted for 4 years. The choice of treatment was based on the course of the disease and the frequency of relapses. The influence of changes in treatment on the patterns of relapses is presented. The results of this prospective followup open study were evaluated by comparing data received during our research with data from the two preceding 4-year periods and with data from the control group. Compared with routine methods, special treatment tactics led to a significantly decreased frequency of relapses in patients with frequent relapses (p < 0.001). In patients with rare relapses, full cessation of treatment did not lead to increasing mean frequency of relapses. Treatment in remission should be based on the peculiarities of the course of disease, specifically, frequency of relapses, type of schizophrenia, and presence or absence of positive psychopathological signs in remission.