Psychosis is disturbance of a person’s thinking that causes them to have false perceptions of the senses (hallucinations) and see the world in a different way from the majority (delusions). Psychosis can cause the sufferer to become very distressed. The majority of people who need hospital treatment for psychosis receive it in specialist psychiatric wards. However in some parts of the developing world, especially the Caribbean, a system has grown up where people with psychosis are admitted and treated on general medical wards along with those who have non-psychiatric conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. They are treated with antipsychotics and are expected to help nurse others as they get better.
This review attempted to compare trials randomising treatment in a general medical ward with treatment in a psychiatric ward, however there are no trials which meet the inclusion criteria. Since there is a published article which suggests that people in a general ward recover faster and are more able to return to employment or education afterwards, it would be helpful to do a randomised controlled trial comparing these two treatments to see if this is the case.
(Plain language summary prepared for this review by Janey Antoniou of RETHINK, UK www.rethink.org).