Management and prognosis of people with psychotic disorder
Among the poorest of the poor population are people with psychological illnesses. If minor problems are often supported with local resources (relatives, healers, religious bodies, etc.), serious problems do not find a solution and the sick are often victims of abuse and mistreatment. In addition, problems such as psychosis and schizophrenia usually affect adolescents or young adults, who are thus seriously invalidated for their entire lives and are a burden to the community.
A verbal tool: the Crisis Dialogue
Antenna Foundation is partner of a study evaluating a verbal tool to improve the management and prognosis of patients with psychotic disorders.
This tool is lightweight and portable as it is based on the power of words. About a set of specific, cross-cultural use, developed from the observation of hundreds of patients, about which control can be taught to local officials. This tool was developed by a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses and improved based on feedback from patients and clinical studies conducted with a hundred of them.
The “Crisis Dialogue” is derived from recent acquisitions including neurosciences and their applications in clinical psychiatry. This new approach is used to help support people with serious mental problems, in a respectful manner. It is part of an overall support to the health system, in that it is also used to help patients and their relatives to care without stigmatizing the disease, access to medication, etc.
The overall objective is a quick exit from the psychotic crisis, reduced relapses and improved patient autonomy in daily life.
Download the Crisis Dialogue Manual
A cross method
One of the advantages of the proposed method is being used with limited resources in all socio-economic contexts. A pilot study was conducted in Switzerland (Geneva and Yverdon) to provide an estimate of the effects of the new method. The results were encouraging and seem to bring a reduction of trauma to the onset of psychosis and an accelerated return to normal life. Patients receiving Dialogue crisis evolve very positively during the 10 days following admission. Since 2011, the “Crisis Dialogue” tool has been used in Palau (Asia-Pacific) and the methodology has been translated into Arabic for further dissemination.
Partners
- Haute école de soins infirmiers de Lausanne (HESAV)
- Association l’Îlot et Journées de la Schizophrénie, Evian
- Association Afak pour la santé mentale, Casablanca
- Centre médico-psycho-social de Moulay Rachid, Casablanca
Research documents and publications
- Gegen das Stigma angehen — In Marokko. Fabio Brugger (civiliste Antenna), Magazin “Amnesty”, août 2020
- Crisis Dialogue for Acute Psychotic State and Ethical Difficulties: What Do You Do When Trials Are Interrupted Because Clinicians Find the Intervention Too Effective?, Graz B, Bangerter G, Stantzos A, Grivois H: Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry 2015; 17(1): 45-59(15).
- Acute psychosis and the first days of care. concepts and pilot studies of the “crisis dialogue”. Widakowich C, Graz B: Abstracts of the 21th European Congress of Psychiatry. European Psychiatry 2013; 28, Suppl 1: 1.
- Consentir au dialogue – Journal « Santé mentale », n°161, octobre 2011, www.santementale.fr
- Journal « Neuronal », n°46. Épisode psychotique aigu: une nouvelle méthode d’entretien pour éviter la construction délirante ?, mars 2011
- Evaluation d’une technique d’entretien visant à améliorer l’accueil et le pronostic des patients en phase aiguë de troubles psychotiques, Haute Ecole de Santé La Source – Lausanne (www.ecolelasource.ch), 2008
- Journal « Santé mentale », n°123. www.santementale.fr, Le point aveugle des psychoses, 2007
- Journal « SYNAPSE », n°221, L’entretien thérapeutique précoce en cas de psychose récente ou aiguë essai de systématisation de la méthode développée par Henri Grivois et AL., 2006