Family Therapy during the Aftercare Treatment of Acute Schizophrenia

Abstract

With the last few years, the thrust of the community mental health center movement at the national and local levels has generated a treatment model for acute schizophrenia composed of two phases—a brief inpatient phase, measured in days, followed by an extended period of aftercare in the community. In the old system, relatively complete remission of schizophrenic symptoms was the goal, whereas minimal remission of only the most acute and disorganizing symptoms is the goal of inpatient treatment in the new system. The balance of the recovery process, it is believed, can be more effectively achieved once the patient has been returned to community life.