Abstract
In 1974, Van Putten was wondering “Why schizophrenic patients refuse to take their medication?” Twenty years later, the entire October 1986 issue of Psychiatric Annals deals with the subject of compliance in the case of maintenance psychotropic drugs. This paper aims to relate the empirical observations made during 152 interviews with chronic psychiatric patients to the broader considerations reported in specialized literature on compliance in the case of psychotropic drugs and of lithium. These two types of data make it possible to explain how the “perceived” advantages and disadvantages of medication go beyond the positive and negative factors objectively recognized and how they intervene in the decision to continue, modify freely or give up the treatment. In conclusion, the author reports studies on the effectiveness of various strategies proposed for increasing compliance.