Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program

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Early Intervention Approaches to Mental Health Services can Save the UK up to £50 Million Per Year

A London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and King’s College London study has shown that by providing an early intervention service approach rather than standard mental health care for one cohort of patients with psychosis, the UK could save £40 million per year in the short term, £33 million in the medium term [...]

New from the Beacon Program

Beacon Program is a unique and exciting community based Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) program for young people with severe and persistent mental disorders. Located in a beautiful new building in the Annapolis Valley, it is a voluntary program that empowers individuals to make choices, gain skills, and find a more satisfying life in the community with [...]

check out teenmentalhealth.org

Our colleagues at teenmentalhealth.org have been putting tremendous effort and heart into developing new resource materials to help teens, their families, their teachers, health care professionals and all of us better understand the mental health issues that arise for teens. Check out the new resources, the ongoing blog and all the other features at teenmentalhealth.org

Video poem: Superhero

The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia has created a video poem called ‘ Super-hero”. The poem was written by Laura Burke, a Nova Scotia early psychosis mental health consumer who has been widely recognized for her work in exposing and overcoming stigma while communicating deeper levels of what it means to experience mental disorder. The Mental [...]

The Sooner the Better Education Package

The Sooner the Better Education Package has helped thousands of patients, family members, clinicians and students to better understand the issues involved when a young person develops psychosis. The package includes a 20 minute video, a 60 page information guide and a poster. The video features two patients and their families describing, in their own [...]

About Early Psychosis

Psychosis is a term used to refer to mental experiences in which there is a distortion of, or a loss of contact with reality. Hallucinations (sensory perceptions that are not based on actual stimuli), delusions (beliefs that are not based on an accurate understanding of situations) and disorganization are the most common forms of psychotic experience. Although psychosis [...]

Early detection of psychosis improves 5-year outcomes

In the late 1990s a group of clinicians and researchers in Norway, along with collaborators from the US and Denmark, set out to boldly test the fundamental hypothesis of the field of Early Psychosis. That hypothesis is, simple put, that the earlier in the course of the development of psychosis the condition is recognized, and [...]

Psychosis is treatable

Effective treatments are available for psychosis. With effective treatment, most people recover and go on to live a meaningful life. Ideally, treatment should be started on an outpatient basis before crises occur. Inpatient treatment may be necessary if the symptoms are very severe. Examples include significant risk of self-harm or aggression, and insufficient supports in the [...]

Treatment

What are the causes of psychosis?

Intensive research over the past several decades has clearly established that the experience of psychosis in associated with changes in the way the brain functions. From that point of view, psychosis is clearly a disorder of the brain. However, perhaps the more interesting question is, what caused the changes in the way the brain is [...]

Causes

Early intervention in psychosis is cost effective

A series of research studies over the past decade have demonstrated that young people who develop a full psychotic disorder do better, over the course of the first three years of treatment, if they receive care from a specialized Early Psychosis Program, as compared with generic mental health services. Based on this research, a large [...]

March 30, 2012: invitation to dinner, entertainment, silent auction

The Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program and the Nova Scotia Psychosis Research Unit warmly invite you to join us for dinner, entertainment and a silent auction on March 30, 2012 at the Asburn Golf Club. Musical entertainment will be provided by Ian Sherwood, 2008/2010 Nova Scotia Musician of the Year. Festivities begin at 6pm. For [...]

New NSEPP brochure provides indepth information for families

The Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program (NSEPP) has created a new and innovative brochure for families. Based on requests and questions from family members, the brochure contains concise and comprehensive descriptions of the services offered and the roles of the members of the NSEPP team. The brochure will help empower family members to work closely with [...]

In defense of a DSM-5 diagnosis of ‘at risk for psychosis’

Drs. McGlashan and Wood, from Yale University, have recently written a concise summary of the issues involved in the early detaction of psychosis, both in the cases of psychosis that have already fully developed and in the cases where the person has some psychotic experiences and seems to ‘at risk’ of developing a fully psychosis. [...]

Proposed diagnosis of ‘high risk for psychosis’: the plot (and the evidence) thickens

Recent articles in the American Journal of Psychiatry raise further doubts as to whether the DSM-V, due out in 2013, should contain a diagnostic category of ‘Psychosis Risk” or “at high risk for psychosis’. Addington et al, following 100 people who would receive such a diagnosis found that, without any specific treatment, the vast majority [...]

Australia invests in Early Psychosis services

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