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. 2022 Jul;58(5):887-894.
doi: 10.1007/s10597-021-00895-6. Epub 2021 Sep 22.

Retrospective Experiences of First-Episode Psychosis Treatment Under Open Dialogue-Based Services: A Qualitative Study

Tomi Bergström  1   2 , Jaakko Seikkula  3 , Juha Holma  3 , Päivi Köngäs-Saviaro  4 , Jyri J Taskila  4 , Birgitta Alakare  4
Affiliations

Retrospective Experiences of First-Episode Psychosis Treatment Under Open Dialogue-Based Services: A Qualitative Study

Tomi Bergström et al. Community Ment Health J. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Open Dialogue (OD) is an integrated approach to mental health care, which has demonstrated promising outcomes in the treatment of first-episode psychosis (FEP) in Finnish Western Lapland region. However, little is known how treatment under OD is retrospectively experienced by the service users themselves. To address this, twenty participants from the original Western Lapland research cohort diagnosed with psychosis (F20-F29) were asked about their treatment of FEP, initiated under OD 10-23 years previously. Thematic analysis was used to explore how the treatment was experienced. Most participants viewed network treatment meetings as an important part of their treatment, as they enabled interactions with other people and the chance to go through difficult experiences. A minority of the participants had mixed experiences regarding family involvement and immediate home visits. OD may have the potential to promote therapeutic relationships, but replications from other catchment areas are needed.

Keywords: Family therapy; First person accounts; Long-term follow-up; Need-adapted approach; Schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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