Abstract

In the treatment of psychiatric patients, clinicians may encounter patients who are unable or unwilling to take psychotropic medications orally and alternative treatments including psychological intervention are either impractical or contraindicated. This considerably limits the effectiveness of treatment and results in higher rates of relapse, rehospitalization, suicide, early mortality and disability in patients of mental illness. This is a serious concern for professionals, caregivers and policy makers. The pharmacological, psychological, psychosocial models and interventions have been there since last few decades to improve the treatment adherence in patients of severe mental illness. These have not made major changes in treatment adherence and outcome of severe mental illness. Hence new alternative routes can be developed which could soon revolutionize the treatment in psychiatry.