What is the evidence for antipsychotic medication and alternative psychosocial interventions for people with acute, non-affective psychosis?

Abstract

In this Personal View, we critically appraise and summarise evidence for antipsychotic drugs and alternatives to drug treatment, with a focus on people in their first episode or acute relapses of schizophrenia and related conditions within the first 5-10 years of illness. There is a large body of generally moderate quality evidence from randomised controlled trials for antipsychotics in both treating acute psychosis and reducing relapse, in thousands of people in their first episode and in established illness. There is a much smaller evidence base, of generally low quality, in a few hundred people, for potential benefits of non-drug interventions, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, Open Dialogue, Soteria, and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.