The biggest challenges facing people with psychotic disorders are economic and social, according to the largest and most comprehensive Australian assessment of the issue.
The results show the interventions required are broad structural ones rather than those focusing on the needs and responsibilities of individuals, a psychiatrist working in a Sydney emergency department says.
Screening everyone who attended specialised public and NGO mental health services in seven catchment areas covering 10% of the Australian population, the researchers identified 8,000 people with psychotic disorders and interviewed a random sample of almost 2,000.
For 85% of the participants, government pensions were the main source of income and the majority (59.2%) earned between $250 and $400 a week from all sources.
At the time of the...
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