Role of psychosocial treatments in management of schizophrenia: A meta-analytic review of controlled outcome studies

This meta-analytic review sought to answer questions concerning the role of psychosocial treatments in the comprehensive management of patients with s chizophrenia. The review focused on the effects of combining psychosocial t reatment with somatic treatment. Findings demonstrated the additive and sup plementary effects of psychosocial treatments and the durability of these e ffects. Patients with more chronic illness appeared to be more responsive t o psychosocial treatments, as were patients in studies conducted in non-Wes tern countries. Among the Western countries, studies from Scandinavian coun tries reported the least effectiveness for psychosocial treatments. There w as some evidence for differential effect of psychosocial treatments on diff erent dimensions of illness as the measures of disorganized behavior and em ployment showed little difference in treated and control groups. There was also some evidence for differences between different modalities of treatmen t as group treatments produced smaller effects. Implications for practice a nd future research are discussed.