Psychosocial Intervention in Schizophrenia

Today, more than 70 years after Eugen Bleuler introduced the term schizophrenia, the human condition so labeled continues to pose a formidable challenge to the helping professions. In recent years it may seem that this challenge can be met most successful- ly by biologicalIy oriented researchers and therapists: AlI over the world neuroleptic drugs have made it possible to control disturbing symptoms and shorten hospital stays. Ever more refined technologies permit study of intricate neurophysiological and pharma- cological processes that seem to underlie, if not contribute to, schizophrenic disorders. Most recently, the discovery of the endorphins promises a new therapeutic breakthrough. At the same time, a vast and growing research litera ture confirms the importance, if not primacy, of hereditary and neurophysiological fac tors in the etiopathogenesis of these disorders. And yet, as Loren Mosher notes in this volume, after 2 decades of almost universal usage of neuroleptics, it is now dear that they do not cure schizophrenia. It is also c1ear that they have serious, sometimes irreversible toxicities, that recovery may be impaired by them in at least some schizophrenics, and that they have little effect on long-term psychosocial adjustment.