title: The use of card sort exercises in the prevention of relapse in serious mental illness.
abstract: The identification of early warning signs and the development of a relapse prevention plan is an important part of the treatment of serious mental illness, be it Schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder. The use of a card sort exercise is an effective way of developing an accurate description of the early warning signs. This paper reviews the literature on the subject, and describes our method of applying this technique to our patients. It also describes a pilot study in which we found that the use of early warning signs in an early intervention service does enable some relapses to be treated at home before they become so serious as to lead to hospital admission. We look forward to further studies on large groups of patients.
authors.affiliation: Bedfordshire Centre for Mental Health Research in Association With University of Cambridge, England. mark.aguis@blpt.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agius
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oakham
authors.forename: Sanja Martić
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Biocina
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001364:Awareness; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005196:Family Therapy; D006801:Humans; D010359:Patient Readmission; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology; D012803:Sick Role