Schizophrenia group therapy

Malm, U. The influence of group therapy on schizophrenia. Acta Psvchiatr. Scarnl. 65, (Suppl. 297), 1-65, 1982. 

Prien RF, Cole JO. High dose chlorpromazine therapy in chronic schizophrenia. Report of National Institute of Mental Health Psychopharmacology Research Branch Collaborative Study Group. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1968 18 482-495. 

Leff J, Berkowitz R, Shavit N, et al. A trial of family therapy versus a relatives group for schizophrenia. Two-year follow-up. Br J Psychiatry 1990 157 571-577. 

The most effective treatment for schizophrenia incorporates a multidisciplinary approach in which antipsychotic medications are a necessary but insufficient component. Medication must be complemented by specific psychotherapy modalities, including family therapy, skills training, psychoeducation, supportive intervention, vocational training, and self-help groups. 

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms during clozapine therapy have been suggested to be more common than first reported (SEDA-21, 54). In a retrospective cohort study, new or worse obsessiveness has been analysed in 121 consecutive young patients with recent-onset schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders taking clozapine and other neuroleptic drugs (86). More clozapine-treated subjects (21%) had new or worse obsessiveness than subjects treated with other neuroleptic drugs (1.3%). However, there was no information on comparability of the groups. 

The mean GSH index in psychotic patients (schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, and involutional melancholia) ranges from 25 to 35 mg. per 100 cc. packed RBC (standard deviation 6.1) and the mean normal GSH index ranges from 63 to 93 mg. per 100 cc. packed RBC (standard deviation 11.3) as determined by six (56-61) groups of investigators during the past twenty years. Insulin and electric shock therapy raise the GSH content of the blood in these patients (61-63). 

A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of oxytocin as an adjunct therapy to risperidone in patients with schizophrenia (N = 40,82.5% male mean age = 32.7 years) found that adverse events were similar between the treatment and placebo groups and that oxytocin significantly improved positive psychopathology and had a mild but significant effect on negative symptoms [66 ]. 

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