Social skills training for chronic psychiatric patients: Rationale, research findings, and future directions

Abstract

In 1969 Gordon Paul stated that "the 'hard core' refractory group of chronic mental patients is clearly one of the most difficult problems facing the mental health field today."1 Although some progress has been achieved in this area since then,2-7 this same hard-core group of patients (most of whom bear schizophrenic diagnoses) remains a persistent challenge to mental health practitioners. A variety of pharmacologic, socioenvironmental, and behavioral approaches (primarily the token economy) have been applied to this group of chronic psychiatric patients. We will very briefly examine the major contributions and limitations of each approach. © 1976.