[Rehabilitation in schizophrenia--guidelines for including psychosocial measures]

Today schizophrenic patients live most of their life outside institutions. Social relationships and their quality have, therefore, become practically important. However, they are ambiguous in nature: they can mean a stress for the patient, but they can also be used for therapeutic purposes. It has been shown in many treatment studies, that the combination of psychosocial and medication strategies can improve the long-term outcome of schizophrenia. It is contended that the inclusion of the patient and his or her relatives as partners improves outcome.