[The pilot project "Soteria Bern" in treatment of acute schizophrenic patients. II. Results of a comparative prospective follow-up study over 2 years].

Following on a previous publication [15], outcomes of 22 acute schizophrenic index patients treated mainly with no- or low-medication strategies and with milieu therapeutic, socio-therapeutic and psychotherapeutic methods in the open therapeutic community "Soteria Berne" are compared, in a 2-year prospective study, with pairwise matched controls from 4 different traditional settings. There were no significant differences concerning psychopathology, living situation, work situation, combined evaluation and relapse rate after 2 years. Total dosage of medication was less than half, but total costs about 1/3 higher in the index group. Differences of costs were directly related to the inclusion of the-often prolonged-phase of rehabilitation in the in-patient treatment in "Soteria", and disappear when this phase is shifted to other settings. These results and additional observations concerning subjective aspects speak in favour of the creation of other treatment facilities of the same type.