 One
of the psychosis teams in Gothenburg, Sweden, Nå-ut-teamet,
practices a treatment they call Integrated Psychiatry. Integrated
Psychiatry has been evaluated within the international research
project Optimal Treatment Project, which was initiated in 1994 by
Ian Falloon, who is professor of psychiatry in New Zeeland. This
project aims at finding the best way to introduce the most effective
treatment of patients who suffer from a severe mental disorder.
Ulf Malm, who is associate professor of psychiatry at the University
of Gothenburg, Sweden, is the leader of the Swedish division of
the project, where the treatment program was studied between 1994
and 2000. Nearly 100 patients with schizophrenia  participated.
The treatment, the results from which have been successful, implies
that medication and psychosocial interventions are combined in an
optimal way. This means among other things that the patient rules
her own treatment, and that important individuals in the patient's
social network take an active part. A significant component of the
treatment is that the patient and her relatives learn how to improve
their communication and to cope with stress, as psychoses are often
triggered by crises and big changes in life, or by concerns about
work, finances, and relations with close individuals.
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