SCHIZOPHRENIA - A STUDY COMPARING A FAMILY-THERAPY GROUP FOLLOWING A PARADOXICAL MODEL PLUS PSYCHODRUGS AND A GROUP TREATED BY THE CONVENTIONAL CLINICAL APPROACH

A 'short family therapy in schizophrenia, according to a specific syst emic model (the 'Elementary Pragmatic Model' or EPM) with a strong par adoxical structure is presented. A total of 38 schizophrenic patients, randomly allocated, were treated according to the EPM model combined with psychotropic drugs (19 cases, each of whom underwent 10 weekly se ssions of family therapy) or a traditional clinical-pharmacological ap proach (19 cases). With regard to all measures (number of drop-outs, s ymptoms according to the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, social activi ty according to the Strauss-Carpenter Outcome Scale and an interactive test) the EPM group showed better results. It is suggested that the s ystemic approach could be used not only as an effective therapy model in schizophrenia but also as an intervention in addition to or integra ted into an ongoing psychoeducational family therapy.