Social skills: group psychotherapy with chronic schizophrenic patients

Abstract

The study confirms the importance of R.P. Liberman's Group training in social skills for schizophrenic patients and applied in Peru by Sotillo et al. (1991) in a public mental health institution. We applied this same experience in a private psychiatric clinic of Lima. Since the management of patients in public and private institutions are different, we carried out a study to train the staff and to adapt the program. Nine in patients with DSM III-R diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia were selected. The inclusion criteria were: basic behaviors, minimal speech repertoire and no positive symptoms. Twenty-seven behaviors, grouped in 4 areas, were assessed before and after training. Results reveal an increase in the number of social skills in 8 of the 9 sujects that participated in the study.