Motivational Interviewing for Patients With Acute Psychosis

Psychotic disorders are associated with high levels of distress, limitations in quality of life, and a high risk of chronification for those affected. The treatment guidelines recommend combining the pharmacological treatment with psychotherapeutic methods, starting already in the acute phase. At the same time, there is little research evidence on which mechanisms of psychotherapy are most effective and best feasible for the acute setting. Therefore, we want to run a pilot study to test specific psychotherapeutic interventions for patients with psychosis on acute psychiatric wards. The method of \"Motivational Interviewing\" is a well-known and established interviewing technique, which originally comes from the treatment of addictive disorders. In our study, it is used to strengthen the therapeutic alliance between patient and practitioner already in the acute phase of the disease, to increase adherence, and thus to achieve the overall goal of better integrating patients with pronounced positive symptoms into treatment. This appears to be extremely important, as non-adherence represents one of the greatest risks for chronification of the disease. The intervention will subsequently be evaluated in comparison to \"treatment as usual\".