Schizophrenia: Treatment Process & Outcome

by Christopher J. Keats and Thomas H. McGlashan

Book Overview

Case histories (from the Chestnut Lodge Hospital, Rockville, Maryland) inform this analysis of the nature and treatment of schizophrenic disorders.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880482818
• ISBN13: 9780880482813
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: American Psychiatric Publishing
• Length: 207 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Schizophrenia : Treatment Process and Outcome

Intrigued by the often mysterious causes of remission in the schizophrenic process, the authors of this study turned to an extensive archive of psychoanalytic case histories compiled at the Chestnut Lodge Hospital in Rockville, Maryland. Isolating cases with a particularly positive or negative treatment outcome and then reexamining them with a special focus on the interpersonal processes, particularly those between the patient and the doctor, researchers hoped to proceed from individual case histories to arrive at a theory of what patterns are likely to emerge in a successful or unsuccessful treatment. With this purpose in mind, four case histories are presented in an easy-to-read, narrative style, with subsequent chapters utilizing the narrative material to discuss the parameters of the schizophrenic experience. Finally, the authors isolate a series of stages, including engagement, attachment, communication, fortification, and integration, each paralleling a stage in the patient's relationship complexity, maturation level, and predicted long-term outcome.Although the authors acknowledge a bias towards a medical and psychoanalytic orientation, a broader philosophical bias also seems to color this study. For instance, one patient's interest in meditation, which appears to provide a very positive and stabilizing influence in his life, is termed a narcissistic preoccupation. Similarly, the patient's discussion of poetry, reincarnation, and philosophy is characterized as an effort to rationalize his difficulties. Other value judgments regarding the manner in which one adjusts to society and assumes various roles provide a further bias which may not always be apparent to the reader. While those professionals working with a similar medical and psychoanalytic orientation, particularly in traditional settings, may find this study of interest, one would hope there views would remain adequately open to meet the needs of the schizophrenic patient who, above all, needs to be heard more and judged and categorized far less.