Author:

Abstract:

To experience a psychosis is a major event for patients and their families. Clinical experience teaches that the care of psychotic patients often comes too late, that frequently the treatment is fragmented and many times takes place in a residential environment for a prolonged time as well as that patients sometimes give up too early, making a painful relapse often inevitable. Since the mid nineties of the last century worldwide clinical and scientific interest promotes faster care for early psychosis, expecting a reduction of its impact on later life. An early psychosis usually arises in adolescence: the phase of development initiating an independent adult life. Therefore teams specializing in the early care for psychosis are worldwide formed. Their endeavor is characterized by early detection and intervention: phase-specific assessment and treatment, as early as the moment in which someone presents an increased risk of developing a psychosis for the first time. VRINT, the early intervention team in the region of Leuven (Belgium) was recently established and applies an integrative model for assessment and treatment: a specialized as well as phase-specific and integrated care, paying a particular attention to a low threshold in the contact and a not stigmatising vision of the patient and based upon a case-management pattern. This care is sufficiently long continued and takes places as much as possible in an ambulatory setting and in close cooperation with the family, the generalist and other caregivers.