Recovery of long-term psychotic patients often better than thought

If you suffer from psychosis for a long time, the chance of a full recovery and a 'normal' life is slim. Or, that was the opinion until recently. However, recently published research by Stynke Castelein, Marieke Timmerman and fellow researchers shows that about 40% of patients recover above expectations.

The study involved following 2327 people who were being treated by various mental health institutions in the north of the Netherlands for eleven years. Both symptomatic as well as personal and social recovery were examined. Never before has there been research on this scale.

Of the group studied, 40% recovered in almost all areas. Although they often still needed care, they managed to pick up (parts of) their lives again and scored on average a 7 for happiness, meaning and social contacts. Work and study, however, remain areas of concern.

Stynke Castelein, professor of recovery promotion at the University of Groningen and head of research at the mental health institution Lentis, argues in Trouw for a different view of recovery: "In the past, if someone could not quite keep up in one area, such as work, they were not called recovered. But this research shows that this does not do justice to reality.