Patients With First-Episode Psychosis are Not a Homogeneous Population: Implications for Treatment.

Objective: This study aimed at defining the characteristics of a population of patients diagnosed with first-episode psychosis (FEP), and accessing for the first time a center for early intervention in psychosis in the health district of Milan and its surroundings.

Methods: Patients were included in the study from January 2007 to December 2008; criteria: first contact with any public mental health service of the catchment area for a first episode of schizophrenia or related syndromes according to the ICD-10 criteria. Cluster analysis was used to divide patients into groups based on the main socio-demographic and clinical characteristics at presentation.

The mental health system in Lombardy, Italy: access to services and patterns of care.

Purpose: The psychiatric reform in Italy devolved to the regions the responsibility of implementing community psychiatric care. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the mental health system in Lombardy by assessing changes in accessibility and patterns of care occurred between 1999 and 2009.

Methods: Data on mental health services were collected through the regional mental health information system and analyzed in terms of treated prevalence, treated incidence, continuity of care and packages of care.

[Costs and outcome of care in subjects with severe mental disorders].

Objective: The objectives of the paper are the following: i) to describe the activities and the costs of care for patients with severe mental disorders; ii) to evaluate the association between costs, clients' characteristics and outcome measures.

Methods: Patients were administered the following instruments twice a year: BPRS, GAF, HoNOS, DAS II, VSSS-54, QPF. Use of psychiatric services and other resources were collected for each patient over a two-year period.