The treatment of social dysfunction in nonpsychotic outpatients. A review

A sizable proportion (7 to 16 per cent) of psychiatric outpatients suffer from social dysfunction, either as the main complaint or in conjunction with other psychiatric problems. Social skills training is a newly evolved treatment regimen that involves teaching patients new forms of social behavior by their rehearsal within sessions and their practice in real life between sessions. In an overview of controlled studies, social skills training was found to have been useful for up to 16 months follow-up in mainly nonpsychotic socially dysfunctional outpatients. Its effects supersede "no-treatment" periods and it appears a more potent treatment of social dysfunction than contrasting methods such as short term psychotherapy, systematic desensitization, sensitivity training, etc. The adjunct use of an anxiolytic or cognitive modification has not enhanced outcome. Social skills training is recommended as the treatment of choice for patients with social dysfunction, especially when no other major psychiatric disorders are present.