Anyone Speak My Language? Psychiatrists And Patients Agree Urgent Need For Better Communication

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 20 Oct 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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In a ground-breaking move to significantly improve the management and outcomes of serious mental illness, leading psychiatrists and representatives from key international patient and professional associations met in Vienna on 6 October 2008 to try to reach consensus on what on the face of it seems a simple issue: how should people with mental illness and the healthcare professionals who care for them really be talking with each other?

The meeting included 10 leading psychiatrists from Europe and the United States, representatives from HORATIO, the European Association for Psychiatric Nurses plus senior members of the main global and European advocacy groups including the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), the European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness (EUFAMI) and the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks (GAMIAN - Europe). This was the second in a series of meetings supported by AstraZeneca as part of the company's ongoing commitment to improving the lives of people with serious mental illness.

The consensus meeting built on key topics that emerged when the groups first met last year. This meeting showed that all too often people with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disease, and the healthcare professionals who are trying to look after them are not always on the same wavelength when they talk about the illness and its treatment. What one says, the other does not necessarily understand or interpret correctly and this can lead to serious delays in a patient's progress to recovery. Doctors can often be too academic and not in touch with what the patient is really trying to say or ask for.

Topics discussed at the meeting included the value of developing a true partnership between all members of the healthcare team (psychiatrists, doctors, nurses and healthcare providers) and the importance of helping patients with long-term adherence to their treatment - not taking medication regularly or properly is a major cause of poor outcome in mental illness.

Dr Roy Chengappa, Professor of Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said: "Unique and highly relevant meetings like this will likely go a very long way in developing ways of communicating that healthcare team members can agree on. Eventually this should lead to improved understanding of the illness, improved adherence to treatment recommendations, and finally, better outcomes."

Patt Franciosi, Past President of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) said: "Many patients have difficulty in fully expressing their concerns to their doctors. We hope that by sharing our insights into where communications break down with doctors, we can really help our members on their journey to recovery from mental illness. For example many patients just lose hope early on and don't believe anything can help them."

The participants hope that a future meeting will allow finalisation of this consensus on how communications at different stages of illness should be conducted. Ultimately, the groups hope to publish a broad plan to help guide patients and physicians on the journey from initial diagnosis and crisis through to remission and recovery.

Serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder cause debilitating symptoms that have profound and devastating effects on people's lives. Work, relationships and social functioning are affected, and patients find that stigmatisation and rejection are serious problems. Many people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder suffer frequent relapses and recurrences, have a significant risk of suicide and will require life-long treatment from healthcare professionals.

Louise Marland, Global Public Relations Manager, AstraZeneca, said: "AstraZeneca is at the forefront of patient and physician dialogue and is committed to supporting open discussion between healthcare professionals, people with mental illness and advocates. The Consensus Conference was an opportunity to explore the different language used by each of these groups to communicate and to find common definitions on the journey to recovery. We are very excited to be able to work with all these groups in an effort to create greater health literacy."

ABOUT ASTRAZENECA

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of US $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection product sales. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.

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