[Social networks in schizophrenic disorders--a review]

In the fifties the "social network"-concept was developed in order to improve the analysis of the structure of different social groups; later on, its emphasis has shifted to the study of "personal networks", that deal with the structure of the social relations of a "focal individual". In the latter sense the term "social network" will be used in this paper. Social networks are discussed in terms of morphological characteristics such as the size or the number of clusters as well as in terms of interactional characteristics such as the number of social contacts of the focal person. Studies concerning the social networks of schizophrenics that have been carried out so far showed the following results: In comparison with the social networks of the mentally healthy those of schizophrenic patients are markedly smaller in size and contain a smaller number of clusters. The proportion of family members in the social networks of schizophrenics is higher than in those of the mentally healthy. Social relations of the latter generally show a more complex structure than those of the schizophrenics. The social networks of schizophrenics patients with multiple admissions are generally smaller than those of first admission schizophrenic patients who also have more extrafamilial contacts. -The last section of this paper discusses methodical problems of the existing studies that deal with the social networks of schizophrenic patients; some suggestions are made concerning the application of the network-concept to psychiatric therapy.