Costa del Sol News: New mental health guide announced for Malaga

THE Andalucian Federation of Relatives and Persons with Mental Health Problems (FEAFES) has presented the Clinical Practice Guide for the treatment of Psychosis and Schizophrenia at the Association of Relatives and Persons with Mental Health Problems of Malaga (AEFENES).

Psychiatrist José María García-Herrera Pérez-Bryan, accompanied by the president of FEAFES Andalucía, Cristina González, and by the president of AFENES, Miguel Acosta, told attendees at the presentation that this guide “is important for family and professionals since it is intended to reduce variability so that when a patient goes to a professional with a problem and then goes to another, both must inform and offer the same treatment”.

This Clinical Practice Guide also offers information on what treatments are currently considered most efficient which is an important section of this manual as it works with shared decision making. “The professional is asked to inform the patient or family member of the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options to be treated. Thus, the professional and the patient decide together,” said the psychiatrist.

The manual has three formats (complete, summarized and fast), but they include the same sections and ideas. An important aspect of this guide, in addition to the recommendations it hosts, is that in order to carry it out, a large number of users with psychotic or schizophrenic disorder and family members have participated.