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Current Research
MSP is located at the American Lake campus of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. We seek to further the understanding, treatment, and rehabilitation of schizophrenia and related disorders.
The MSP is sponsored by the Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) a division of the Veterans Administration's VISN 20. MPS is under the direction of Andre Tapp, M.D. the Associate Executive Director of the Mental Health Service at the VA Puget Sound and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Washington.
One of the primary activities of the MSP is to conduct clinical research that is directly relevant to the quality of life of veterans and others with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
In any given year, approximately 2.2 million Americans suffer from schizophrenia, about the same number of people as the population of the metropolitan Seattle area (Torrey, 2001). Despite ongoing advances in pharmacotherapy, schizophrenia continues to be a chronic, disabling disease that gravely impacts the quality of life of both patients and their families. In fact, most patients treated with antipsychotic medications do not experience more than about a 50% reduction in symptoms (Stahl & Grady, 2004). Occupational and social dysfunctions are among the most refractory and costly features of the disease. Given that the disease typically strikes before the age of 25, most people with schizophrenia are unemployed, dependent on welfare entitlements, and have per capita incomes below the poverty level (Torrey). In a 20-year follow-up study of first episode patients, a full 95% of the patients experienced impaired social relations (Helgason, 1990).Thus, it is with a sense of urgency that the Model Schizophrenia Program (MSP) at the American Lake campus of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System seeks to further the understanding, treatment, and rehabilitation of schizophrenia and related disorders.
References
Helgason L. (1990). Twenty years' follow-up of first psychiatric presentation for schizophrenia: what could have been prevented? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 81(3), 231-235.
Stahl, S.M. & Grady, M.M. (2004) A critical review of atypical antipsychotic utilization: comparing monotherapy with polypharmacy and augmentation. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 11 (3), 313-327.
Torrey, E.F. (2001). Surviving schizophrenia: A manual for families, consumersand providers. New York: Quill.
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