Thus, it appears that the issue of comorbidity is twofold, since schizophrenic patients using drugs show specific problems that demand special intervention as well as compliance with treatment; on the other hand, community facilities are often inexperienced in treating double diagnoses. Moreover, clinics for addiction disorders might underdiagnose psychotic disorders, just, as mental health clinics may overlook co-occurring substance abuse disorders. Care

assessment, methodologies in both systems address only one type of disorder. The consequences of the inability to provide adequate treatment for these patients leads to poor outcomes and hence Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical higher costs. However, the problem of comorbidity

has obtained increasing attention in the past years, and integrated treatment models that address both disorders have been found to be most, promising. Further research will be required in order to establish optimal psychological and antipsychotic therapy Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for schizophrenic patients with comorbid substance abuse. Finally, we urgently need changes in our public policies in order to develop treatment systems that meet the requirements to implement these results, and subsequently provide adequate treatment for this particular patient group.
The US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) developed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the Measurement Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) initiative for a number of reasons: (i) there is a widespread belief that too few innovative new drugs are being developed for Selleck XL184 illnesses that affect, the central nervous system (CNS) in comparison to other areas of medicine1; (ii) drugs for CNS disorders have often been accidental discoveries Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical rather than the products of well-developed scientific strategies2; and (iii) there is dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of drugs for schizophrenia. Evidence for this comes from the recent publication of a large trial comparing the effectiveness and side effects of several second-generation

antipsychotics known as the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATTE) trial.3 In this study, 74% of patients were discontinued from their antipsychotic treatment due to lack of efficacy or side effects. The results of the CATIE trial emphasize that, there are important, limitations in what antipsychotics can do for patients. Patients unless and clinicians tend to be dissatisfied with the clinical response or the tolerability of available agents. In addition, the widespread availability of these drugs has not resulted in long-term improvements in the outcome of schizophrenia.4 These observations, along with the recent, interest in recovery and improving functional outcomes, suggest that, drug development, for schizophrenia should focus on targets other than dopamine D2 receptors.