Who is early intervention for and does it work?
The NICE guidelines for schizophrenia recommend that early intervention services are offered to everyone experiencing a first episode or presentation of psychosis.
Early intervention is generally for people who are:
- aged 14-35 (the qualifying age range may vary between individual services) and experiencing their first episode of psychosis; or
- aged 14-35 during the first three years of a psychotic illness
When early intervention services are compared to standard mental health services, early intervention has shown -
shorter periods of untreated psychosis
lower use hospital bed use
decreased relapse rates
better recovery
better engagement with services, increased service user/carer satisfaction and lower suicide rates
Early intervention services offer help to people for a limited amount of time, usually about three years.
Rethink Advice and Information Service
For more information please contact the Rethink Advice and Information Service who provide expert advice to people with mental health problems, or download the Early intervention Teams - Services For Early Psychosis Factsheet
