The stigma that surrounds mental illness often prevents people from seeking treatment. Without family support, the consequences of untreated mental illness can escalate to unnecessary mental disability, homelessness, unemployment and even suicide. It is of utmost importance to incorporate family psycho-education intervention as it is an evidence-based practice that has consistently been shown to reduce relapse rates for schizophrenia. In order to involve the patients and their family, nurses in the community who are in greatest contact with patients are described as being uniquely positioned to assist people with schizophrenia in dealing with the challenges of the condition arising from having to negotiate the world as it is (Coffey, Higgon, …show more content…
Patients and their family members should be preferably educated by the community mental health nurse about the illness, its course, and prognosis as well as the efficacy, the potential side effects and costs of various drugs. Other family interventions should include support, problem-solving training and crisis intervention. There was robust and consistent evidence that there was a decrease in the risk of relapse at the end of treatment and up to 12 months following treatment. Moreover, it also reduced hospital admission during treatment and the severity of symptoms both during and up to 24 months following the intervention. (NICE, 2014) The first known controlled trial study on the efficacy of systemic family therapy at the Milan State University. A longitudinal prospective study was conducted to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of systemic family therapy in the treatment of patients suffering from schizophrenia, as compared to a control case sample composed of patients undergoing routine psychiatric treatment. At the end of 2 years, an improved clinical course and a better pharmacological compliance in the group of patients with systemic family therapy was shown. Hence it is vital to advocate for family psycho-education during the early phase of treatment for the patients with schizophrenia and their