COPING-ORIENTED TREATMENT OF THE SCHIZOPHRENIC SUBJECT

Abstract

After a discussion of general problems concerning the development of new and innovative methods of psychotherapy, an approach based on the transactional perspective of coping and aiming at therapeutic interventions on schizophrenic persons' coping with their disease and related problems is presented. The development of this approach makes use of specific empirical data provided by coping research, a theoretical analysis of basic assumptions of the transactional approach including related theoretical elaborations and differentiations, and of empirical knowledge concerning specific impairments of schizophrenic persons, which may have an impact on their participation in this kind of therapy. Also, implications of the approach for the selection of specific methods of intervention and for the organization of the whole setting are discussed. After illustrating the approach by describing a program for groups of patients, which so far has clinically proved to be useful, some ideas concerning the strategy of evaluation are presented. These refer to the process of therapeutic intervention and to aspects of general and differential effectivity.