_:n869ff516ef1340ada4988465aedde2dfxb0
<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Background  Contradictory messages regarding the necessity of long-term antipsychotic treatment after first episode psychosis arouse deliberations in clinical practice  We explored if there is an alternative beyond the dichotomy of maintenance treatment and discontinuation of medications  Methods  We conducted a retrospective observational study by reviewing medical records at the study hospital of a cohort of patients since their participation in an early psychosis study starting from 2006  with special interests in patients able to maintain good functioning under treatment with a low antipsychotic dose  Results  Of the 81 patients with first-episode psychosis  55 patients  67 9   had follow-up information for longer than 5 years  The majority   n   46  83 6   had non-affective psychosis  20 patients  36 4   had full-time employment education by the time of their latest visit  among them  15 patients received dosage of antipsychotics no more than the minimum effective dose  chlorpromazine equivalent  CPZE  dose  200 mg day   Besides  10 of 55 patients  18 2   only received very low dose antipsychotics  CPZE   50 mg day  during maintenance  which was significantly correlated to good functioning  Being male  having a history of hospitalization  and being on clozapine therapy were correlated to poorer functioning  Antipsychotic-free status was achieved only in two non-psychotic patients  Conclusions  A substantial proportion of patients could achieve good functioning under low-dose antipsychotic maintenance after first-episode psychosis  even if they could not completely withdraw antipsychotics in the long term  Optimizing the balance between preventing relapse and preserving functioning by fine-tuning antipsychotic dosage during maintenance is a challenge warranting more clinical attention "
<https://www.mysciencework.com/publication/facets/keywords/maintenance>