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by Eric Hughes, M.D., Ph.D.
Societal perceptions of schizophrenia are sometimes sensationalized and shrouded in stigmas that may result in misconceptions and the unfold of inaccurate data each exterior and inside the neighborhood. These adverse or false beliefs can come from media, cultural attitudes, and institutional bias (employers, police, and even the medical neighborhood), impacting sufferers’ remedy journeys and doubtlessly maintaining them from optimizing their illness administration.
Among sufferers with schizophrenia, caregivers, and well being care suppliers, a typical false impression is that use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) is barely applicable for extreme circumstances. However, LAIs could also be appropriate for quite a lot of sufferers and even utilized in early remedy to permit for improved adherence – the affected person receiving the remedy as prescribed – and high quality of life. For this motive, they’re sometimes advisable to sufferers preferring LAIs or who might battle to stick to a every day oral routine.
In addition, relapse continues to be an ongoing and complicated problem confronted by many schizophrenia sufferers, with charges estimated to be between 50-92% globally. LAIs assist to take care of steady blood ranges and have been proven to cut back the danger of relapse. Despite the confirmed effectiveness, LAIs are solely used as first-line remedy choices within the U.S. about 4% of the time.
It’s necessary to make clear among the different widespread misconceptions of LAIs, together with:
Misconception #1: Treatment price is out of attain
A mess of private and non-private insurance coverage can assist cowl the price of LAI antipsychotics, and in some circumstances the drug producer can also present help.
Misconception #2: Patients desire oral remedy
In the well being care neighborhood, oral remedy is often the usual first alternative remedy of schizophrenia, particularly for first-episode sufferers, as a result of assumption that sufferers desire it. However, there are examples of schizophrenia sufferers and their family with favorable notion of LAIs. Therefore, it’s necessary for well being care suppliers to supply injectable LAIs as an choice to their sufferers early of their remedy journey, which permits sufferers to debate advantages and dangers of various remedy choices with their docs to seek out the one most applicable for them.
Misconception #3: Treatment with LAIs is a punishment
A psychotic episode is usually a traumatic expertise that could be additional compounded by a necessity for hospitalization, which may go away sufferers ambivalent about receiving medicines involuntarily. Historically, this has created a adverse notion of injectable remedies, however attitudes might change throughout illness relapse and remission intervals. Today’s LAIs supply remedy choices for sufferers and docs which will assist meet the affected person’s wants or preferences.
Raising consciousness of those misconceptions has the potential to assist sufferers and caregivers take into account essentially the most applicable remedy choice for them. Should any individual imagine LAIs could also be helpful to their remedy journey, they’re inspired to start out a dialog with their physician.
Eric Hughes, M.D., Ph.D., is the manager vice chairman of world analysis and improvement and chief medical officer at Teva Pharmaceuticals.
October 2023
PSYCH-40561
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