Teaching the very confused to make sense: an experimental approach to modular training with psychotics

Close observation of the working-through process in psychotherapy has led to the development of operational instructions for teaching the inner behaviors that seem to maximize possibilities for insight. These "focusing" instructions, when employed in settings where "listening" is normative, have proved useful in clinical practice and controlled research with normal and neurotic populations. The project described here was a pilot study designed to explore the usefulness of this approach with psychotics. Through special procedures, listening and focusing instructions were introduced to 23 chronic schizophrenics in a weekly group that met for eight months in a psychiatric day treatment center. In written and oral evaluations of the project, program staff and patients were overwhelmingly favorable toward the general approach.