Family perspectives in treatment of schizophrenia

1. Changes in the role of relatives in different perspectives of schizophrenia – From causes to resources Purpose:  The current paper aims to describe the last century changes in the relatives’ role in treatment of individuals with schizophrenia in medical, psychological, social, and research perspective. Methods: A literature review was obtained by searches on Bibsys, Helsebiblioteket, ISI web of Science, and PubMed. Key words were schizophrenia, psychosis, psychiatric history, caregiver burden, family intervention. Evidence based literature was obtained via searches of ISI Web of Science, EBCON, Pubmed, and Google Scholar computerized databases from 1960 through November 2008. Reports of earlier reviews of literature and original research were included. Conclusions: From being assumed as a cause of mental illness, to influence course and relapse, and now to be an important resource of the treatment and recovery of the patient, the relatives now are also recognized as caregivers with their own needs for help and support. There are still challenges to include evidence-based treatment in the clinical settings