In rural China, family intervention should focus on improving the relatives' recognition of illness, the caring attitude towards the patients, treatment compliance, relapse prevention, and the training of the patients' social functioning. This trial, one of the largest in the literature, has shown that psychoeducational family intervention is effective and suitable for psychiatric rehabilitation in Chinese rural communities.

No abstract

The natural clinical outcome of schizophrenia in the Chinese rural community was poor, and occupational functioning of patients with schizophrenia was comparatively better. Schizophrenia itself has a specific natural course--antipsychotic drug treatment and psychosocial treatment will produce an improvement in prognosis.

The effects on locomotor response to cocaine challenge, acquisition of cocaine conditioned place preference and cocaine-induced dopamine (DA) release in nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area by the non-specific corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptors antagonist a-helical CRF, the selective CRF receptor subtype 1 antagonist CP-154,526 and the selective CRF receptor subtype 2 antagonist anti-sauvagine-30 (AS-30) were investigated in rats. Both a-helical CRF (10 lg, i.c.v.) and 526 (3 lg, i.c.v.) decreased the cocaine-induced distance travelled, whereas AS-30 (3 lg, i.c.v.) did not show such an effect. The CRF receptor antagonists also have significant effects on stereotype counts induced by cocaine injection, in which the a-helical CRF or CP-154,526 but not AS-30 did significantly reduce the stereotype counts. a-Helical CRF (10 lg) prior to each injection of cocaine blocked cocaine conditioned place preference with no significant difference observed in the time spent in the drug-paired side between post-and pre-training and both 1 and 3 lg CP-154,526 also had significant inhibitory effects on cocaine-induced place preference. However, pretreatment with an i.c.v. infusion of AS-30 (1 or 3 lg) prior to each injection of cocaine did not affect the acquisition of conditioned place preference. The a-helical CRF and CP-154,526 reduced extracellular DA levels of nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area in response to the injection of cocaine. However, both a-helical CRF and CP-154,526 did not modify extracellular DA levels under basal conditions. In contrast, the i.c.v. infusion of AS-30 had no effects on either the basal DA or the cocaine-induced increase in DA release in nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. These findings demonstrate that activation of the CRF receptor is involved in behavioral and neurochemical effects of cocaine challenge and cocaine reward and that the role of CRF receptor subtypes 1 and 2 in cocaine-induced locomotion, reward and DA release is not identical. The CRF receptor subtype 1 is largely responsible for the action of the CRF system on cocaine locomotion and reward. These results suggest that the CRF receptor antagonist, particularly the CRF receptor subtype 1 antagonist, might be of some value in the treatment of cocaine addiction and cocaine-related behavioral disorders.

Duration of illness before treatment may be an important predictor of course in schizophrenia. Early treatment for the patients may produce higher level of improvement in prognosis. Education intervention and community-based service are urgent priorities for these patients.