Jornal Internacional de Saúde Mental de Emergência e Resiliência Humana

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Peer to Peer Support in Schizophrenia

Kerime Bademli

Schizophrenia adversely affects life quality and social functionality of patients by deteriorating their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. It is commonly reported that a therapeutic combination of drugs and psychosocial therapies in schizophrenia increases levels of social functionality and life quality besides reducing the recurrence rates (Kruger, 2000). Psychosocial therapies can't be successfully implemented in the fields due to a lack of specialized personnel, insufficient time for treatment procedures, and insufficient clinic experience (Rose, Mallinson & Walton, 2004; Rummel et al., 2005). The absence of psychological training, which is one of the interventions, in the routine services performed by healthcare workers led to the emergence of peer to peer support programs (Dixon et al., 2001). Mutual support groups may also provide a psychoeducational context for peers to acquire knowledge and information about psychiatric symptoms; gain new perspectives on treatment, wellness, and recovery; and learn skills that may foster improvements such as problem solving and coping skills (Ahmed et al., 2012).