Psychosis in Primary Care

Abstract

This paper describes the role of primary care clinicians in the management of people with psychosis. The paper uses the term ‘psychosis’ in the same way that severe mental illness is used in the Quality and Outcome Framework to mean those people who suffer from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The paper will cover some epidemiological characteristics of psychosis, features of people with acute psychosis, features of chronic psychosis and finally describe briefly changes to the Mental Health Act 2007 and the potential for these changes to affect the practice of medicine in primary care.