Effects of psychotherapy in schizophrenia. A retrospective study

Effects of individual long-term psychotherapy carried out by a single therapist with 14 schizophrenic male patients were studied 6 and 8 years after the start of therapy. The outcome measures were: time spent in hospital, ability to work, social contacts and symptoms, plus a total outcome score. The psychotherapy patients were compared with a control group of schizophrenic patients treated by conventional methods. The two groups were matched with regard to prognostically important variables (age, sex, time in hospital, ability to work) in order to obtain comparable groups. At the first follow-up video-taped personal interviews focusing on the patient's status the year before the investigation were performed, followed by ratings by "blind raters". The psychotherapy patients had significantly more favourable scores on scales for hospitalization, work, symptoms and total outcome in spite of very low prescribed doses of neuroleptics in the last year. At the second follow-up these differences were maintained. In addition, a difference between the two groups in the variable 'social contacts' had emerged.