To Assess the Effect of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Early Schizophrenia in Men: A Systematic Review

Schizophrenia is understood to be a chronic disorder of the brain which affects under 1% of the population of the United States of America. During its active phase,symptoms include hallucinations,reduced motivation,delusions,speech that is disorganized and problems with thinking. The condition influences perception, judgment and emotions which are known as the basic human processes. Studies of the brain affected by schizophrenia have shown that certain genes such as dysbindin, DISC1, DAOA, COMT and neuregulin 1 can be considered as its risk factors. A chromosome 22 microdeletion known as Velocardio Facial Syndrome (VCFS) can be associated with the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Cognition, motor function, social interaction and physical morphology abnormalities are most commonly noticed in people who later exhibit schizophrenia which is indicative of developmental vulnerability. The literature search consisted of articles from known and recognized databases like Cochrane, PubMed, Medline and Google scholar. The evidence-based medicine practitioners frequently use a special framework known as the PICO framework. Males suffering with schizophrenia in its early stage which was less than 5 years were considered. Worldwide countries like Australia, United Kingdom or Canada have focused on including intervention at early stages as an important approach in the management of the disorder. In the Explicit Health Care Guarantees, the first episode of schizophrenia is considered as a first mental health condition. One of the meta-analysis contains 39 studies with a total of 1,140 participants. This analysis focused on patients suffering from depression, generalized anxiety disorder and a number of other psychiatric disorders. The greatest number of participants 1,140 was the biggest sample among all the articles included in this review. Remaining studies contained samples from 342 to 60 participants.

As this review was supposed to highlight the effect of mindfulness-based intervention therefore, a majority of the articles included in this review contained mindfulness therapy as a treatment for the disorders. The results indicated significant differences in mental health scores on the scales before and post the intervention. Participants further showed good improvements in their mental health after the treatment. PANSS score also improved and all the above-mentioned points highlight the positive outcomes of mindfulness intervention.

Author(s): Kholoud Alamri and Ibtisam Al Bakr

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