Objective: Randomized controlled trials have attested the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in reducing psychotic symptoms. Now, studies are needed to investigate its effectiveness in routine clinical practice settings. Method: Eighty patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who were seeking outpatient treatment were randomized…

Objective: This study tested a cognitive-behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents with a co-occurring alcohol or other drug use disorder (AOD) and suicidality in a randomized clinical trial. Method: Forty adolescents (M[subscript age] = 15 years; 68% female, 89% White) and their families recruited from an inpatient psychiatric hospital were…

Objective: The Helping Older People Experience Success (HOPES) program was developed to improve psychosocial functioning and reduce long-term medical burden in older people with severe mental illness (SMI) living in the community. HOPES includes 1 year of intensive skills training and health management, followed by a 1-year maintenance phase.…

Few investigators studying alcohol abuse among individuals with a severe mental illness (SMI) have examined predictors of posttreatment alcohol outcomes. In the present study, a multivariate approach based on a theoretical model was used to study the relationship between psychosocial factors and post-treatment-initiation alcohol use. Predictors of…

The authors developed and tested a 35-min psychoeducational program with the goal of increasing Spanish-speaking persons' literacy of psychosis. The program uses popular cultural icons derived from music, art, and videos, as well as a mnemonic device--La CLAve (The Clue)--to increase (a) knowledge of psychosis, (b) efficacy beliefs that one can…

Although family psychoeducation has been shown to be highly efficacious in the treatment of schizophrenia, the mechanisms underlying the treatment's success are poorly understood. The therapeutic alliance in behavioral family management (BFM) was examined to determine whether the alliance plays a role in the efficacy of this treatment. One early…

A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials of social skills training for schizophrenia was conducted. Outcome measures from 22 studies including 1,521 clients were categorized according to a proximal-distal continuum in relation to the presumed site of action of skills training interventions, with content mastery tests and performance-based…

A cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was developed to address its high prevalence in persons with severe mental illness receiving treatment at community mental health centers. CBT was compared with treatment as usual (TAU) in a randomized controlled trial with 108 clients with PTSD and either major…

Reviews substance abuse disorders in schizophrenia patients, including prevalence of comorbid disorders, assessment, hypothesized mechanisms underlying abuse, and clinical effects of abuse on course of illness and cognitive functioning. Outlines principles of treatment for dual-diagnosis schizophrenia patients, noting limitations of existing…

Categorized 56 patients with chronic schizophrenia into 2 groups based on traditional diagnostic subtypology. Compared groups on indices of cortical and subcortical cerebrospinal fluid (SCF) volume to explore whether more virulent nonparanoid disorder was linked to cortical/subcortical morphological brain abnormalities. Two groups differed…

The results were interpreted as demonstrating a relationship between the findings of two independent lines of research on therapy outcome, one basing outcome predictions on client-centered theoretical constructs, the other on the empirical value of the A-B scale. (Author)

The results indicated that schizophrenics respond as well as normals to competitive stimuli under the appropriate conditions. Competitive effects seem to be no different than a host of other activators which reduce the psychological deficit" of schizophrenics. (Author)

Examined interaction patterns of relatives of young, recent onset schizophrenic patients classified as displaying either high or low expressed emotion (EE). Found no relation between Camberwell EE rating and interactional behavior. EE-critical relatives were more negative in direct interactions than low EE relatives or high EE relatives classified…

Compared 71 patients diagnosed as within schizophrenia spectrum according to second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II) with 66 patients having similar diagnoses according to the third edition (DSM-III). Results suggest that findings obtained with DSM-II schizophrenics concerning premorbid competence and…

Three methods of differentiating paranoid from nonparanoid schizophrenics were compared using 97 males from a Veterans Administration hospital. Official hospital diagnosis and behavior ratings were found to be significantly correlated, while self-report correlated with neither of the other two techniques. Implications for research are briefly…