What are the prognostic indicators of treatment outcome?
Physicians usually maintain a patient on a given medication as long as it remains efficacious, safe, and well-tolerated. However, clinicians can sometimes anticipate the likelihood of treatment success or failure based on certain features of the illness.
Good prognostic indicators are:
- late onset
- obvious precipitating factors
- acute onset
- good premorbid social, sexual, and work historiess
- being married
- family history of mood disorders
- good support systems
- positive symptoms
- no or few relapses
Poor prognostic indicators are:
- early onset
- no precipitating factors
- insidious onset
- poor premorbid social, sexual, and work histories
- being single, divorced, or widowed
- family history of schizophrenia
- poor support systems
- negative symptoms
- many relapses
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