Recovery in Schizophrenia: What Consumers Know and Do Not Know.

The recovery model has permeated mental health systems by leading to the development of new psychiatric interventions and services and the reconfiguration of traditional ones. There is growing evidence that these interventions and services confer benefits in clinical and recovery-oriented outcomes. Despite the seeming adoption of recovery by policy makers, the transformation of mental health systems into recovery-oriented systems has been fraught with challenges.

A randomized study of cognitive remediation for forensic and mental health patients with schizophrenia.

Cognitive remediation has proven efficacy for improving neurocognition in people with schizophrenia. The current study evaluated the benefits of cognitive remediation on neurocognition, functioning, psychotic symptoms, and aggression in a sample of forensic and mental health patients. Care recipients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (N = 78) receiving services in the forensic and mental health units of a state hospital were randomized to participate in cognitive remediation versus computer games control activities.

The professional experiences of peer specialists in the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network.

There has been an increase in the number of peer-led services within the mental health care system. There however remains little information about the experiences of peers serving in such helping roles. This study explored the professional experiences of peer specialists including the basic roles, benefits, and potential challenges of the peer specialist role.