Most believe it does not. But the family is generally involved in treatment to reduce the rate of patient relapse. People with schizophrenia can benefit from a variety of psychological interventions, including individual and group psychotherapies, behavior therapy, social skills training, family intervention, vocational rehabilitation, psychopharmacology, adjunctive treatments, assertive community treatment, and case management. The primary focus in all cases must be to decrease anxiety and increase trust. Once a therapeutic interpersonal relationship has been established, the therapist emphasizes reality orientation by looking at the patient's interactions and relationships.
Education helps the patient identify sources of stress and ways of reacting appropriately.
Such therapy also emphasizes methods for improving interpersonal communication, emotional expression, and frustration tolerance. 3 Individual psychotherapy requires a long-term commitment from a therapist who is extremely patient and has no need to prove himself or herself by changing the patient. Generally, treatment lasts for many years before patients can function independently. 3 Group therapy has been most helpful over the long-term course of the illness, particularly during residual phases. When leading groups in rehabilitation programs, nurses can remember that therapeutic effects as a result of the social interaction, sense of cohesiveness, identification, and reality testing achieved in the group setting.