A longitudinal study of men and women diagnosed with psychosis: trajectories revealing interventions in a time-geographic framework

The living conditions for persons with severe mental illness have undergone substantial change in Sweden as well as in the rest of the Western world due to the downsizing of inpatient care and the development of community-based interventions. However, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the “trajectories of interventions” in this new, fragmented, institutional landscape. The aim of the study was to explore types of interventions and when they occur in a 10-year follow-up of 437 women and men diagnosed with psychosis for the first time. Based on registers and using a timegeographic visualization method, the results showed a great diversity of trajectories and differences between sexes. The aggregate picture revealed that over the 10-year period there were considerable periods with no interventions for both men and women. Furthermore, institutional interventions more commonly occurred among women but appeared for longer periods among men. Community-based interventions declined among women and increased among men during the period.