Social skills training with schizophrenic patients

Abstract

Deficits in interpersonal and social functioning are key characteristics of schizophrenia, as defined by DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). These deficits seem to be particularly persistent, pervasive problems as many adult schizophrenic patients have been socially isolated and withdrawn from childhood (Lewine et al., 1978, 1980). Deficits in social functioning are a significant source of stress for persons with schizophrenia, have a negative impact on their community functioning, and contribute to relapse (Anthony and Liberman, 1986; Falloon et al., 1984). Such deficits in schizophrenic patients are more than a consequence of positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms. Schizophrenic patients exhibit social skills deficits, even with positive symptoms in remission and in the absence of a manifest negative syndrome (Wallace, 1984; Jackson, 1988; Bellack et al., 1989).