[Schizophrenia and psychosis on the internet].
OBJECTIVE
The internet is an increasingly important source of information for patients concerning their illness. This has to be borne in mind concerning its growing influence on communications between patients and clinicians. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of German-language information on schizophrenia on the internet.


METHODS
Two searches of the terms schizophrenia and psychosis were conducted, using the Google search engine set to produce only German hits. The quality of the first hundred resulting sites was assessed according to a range of criteria, including diagnosis and therapy, links and interactive offers.


RESULTS
Evidence-based medical information was provided by more than half of the sites resulting from the search term schizophrenia and by less than one third of psychosis hits. Information and discussion on the relationship between drugs and psychosis appeared almost exclusively under the term psychosis.


CONCLUSIONS
It is suggested that mental health care professionals can use knowledge on what sort of information their patients are confronted with on the internet in order to assist them in profiting from this source of information.
Schrank
Beate
B
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institut für Sozialpsychiatrie, Währingergürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Seyringer
Michaela-Elena
ME
Berger
Peter
P
Katschnig
Heinz
H
Amering
Michaela
M
D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000592:standards; D020407:Internet; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*