COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: A WAY FORWARD TO REHABILITATE CHRONIC MENTALLY ILL CLIENT

Authors

  • Ambreen Tharani
  • Salima Farooq
  • Anila Naveed

Abstract

Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses produce devastating effects on a clients’ personal andpsychosocial wellbeing. Besides the sufferer, it has irrevocable impacts on the lives of their loved ones.With advancement in the treatment modalities, researches have proven that hospital based care andpsychotropic drugs are not the sole solution in managing the client symptoms. Deinstitutionalization isthe paradigm shift from hospital based to community based care model that allows client/s to spend restof their lives in the community setting. A well-structured community care based programme thatfocuses on psychosocial interventions has significant contribution in treatment and rehabilitation ofclient/s. This article is aimed to provide the evidence of the effective use of community mental healthcare for management and prevention of relapse of a client with chronic schizophrenia. The substantialevidence of rehabilitation is represented through this case study of a chronic schizophrenic client whoreceived these psychosocial interventions in his own community setting.Keywords: Schizophrenia, community mental health care, psychosocial interventions, rehabilitation

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Published

2012-06-01