Psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia

As indicated in recent treatment guidelines, psychosocial treatments play a critical role in the rehabilitation of schizophrenia patients. During the past few years, novel psychosocial treatments have emerged expanding the scope of successful outcomes and designed to address the specific deficits inherent in schizophrenia. This paper provides a brief description and evaluate the efficacy of five new emerging psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia. There is strong evidence for the efficacy of supported employment programs and family therapy, especially those involving multiple family interactions. Although schizophrenia patients appear to derive benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, no evidence supports it superiority over that of other individual psychotherapies. The trials of cognitive remediation to date have been largely unsuccessful, although new innovative approaches continue to be tested. Finally, substance use treatment specifically designed to address the deficits in schizophrenia patients have been formulated, which are supported by optimistic pilot data and awaiting the completion of on-going clinical trials.