Maintanance treatment

Patients who have had two or more psychotic episodes, secondary to schizophrenia, should receive maintenance therapy for at least 5 years, and some experts prefer indefinite therapy. There has been a greater emphasis in research and practice on identifying and aggressively managing first-episode psychosis to determine the benefits of antipsychotic agents in this population. Low doses of antipsychotic drugs are not as effective as higher-dose maintenance therapy in preventing relapse. The rate of relapse may be lower with second generation drugs