A response to a friend of mine on Soteria and alternative treatment for psychosis

I've posted up a study on my Facebook profile. It's a systematic review
of the Soteria houses. These are an alternative treatment for first
episode psychosis and I'm a massive fan of the possibility of this and
other ways of progress in mental healthcare.

I've not yet read the study so I haven't posted the details up. My mate
read it though. He's a GP. He's in America now. He studied at Harvard
and has a Master in Public Health Policy. It's one of the most respected
degrees in the world for commissioning healthcare services at a national
level.

He asked me about the cost effectiveness of Soteria. Here's my response.
Lengthy as usual.

"
Yeah. It's a really useful study. Systematic review in a high quality
journal.

Cost effectiveness is poor compared to standard treatment. I think the
initial hospitalisation period is much longer - 6 months.

It's not the only paradigm of progressive treatment. There's a review by
John Bola which looks at data from other sites. The problem is it's
published in Psychosis which is new and has lno reputation.

The problem is looking at it from a economics perspective. I know
there's limited resources but what happens in first epssode is inhumane.
Soteria and other ways to deal with first episode without incarceration
and coercion and medication are the future but they do cost more.

The UK doesn't have anything like this. For two years I've been banging
on about the need for a progressive facility in the UK. Other nations
are trying these out, for example the Finnish Parachute Project (in
Bola's review).

When I get my shit together I'll be campaign for a progressive psychosis
treatment facility/prgram in London. Rates of diagnosis of schizophrenia
are something like double in London. There's 7 million people. It's a
long shot and it means persuading a lot of GPs but hopefully there'll be
a large consortia or two covering much of London.

Soteria may not be the best way but it has a lot of backing in the
movement. In the Bola review there were 2 suicides at the Soteria place.
None in the other facilities.

There is a real possibility to offer better outcomes but also to reduce
the trauma. I have my own thoughts on what could be done during first
episode, for example use it as an opportunity to train the person to
manage their symptoms. They can learn from others who've been through
the experience - this is part of the Soteria principle and others. They
can make an informed choice on which treatments they accept and don't
accept. This is key. This is what's denied to us and this is oppression.

http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Effective/PsychoSocialMoreEffective2009Psychosis.pdf
"