The treatment of the long term schizophrenic patient has never met with much success, no matter what treatment modality has been employed. We do not believe that the failure in treatment can be attributed to treatment resistant ideas or to the unwillingness of the patient to change. We also cannot accept the notion that we do not know enough about schizophrenia as a primary reason for the enormous percentage of treatment failure.
The long term schizophrenic patient wants to change but doesn't know how. We have failed to find more productive treatment approaches to help the patient living with the condition of schizophrenia. It is important to remember; we have failed, not the patient.

What's wrong? To begin with the biological approach; the emphasis on medication may represent in part a contribution to the overall picture of treatment, however, it is quite clear that in most cases medication may only mask or modify symptoms. The neuroleptics have some effect on the positive symptoms and none on the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The newer medications presumably effect both positive and negative symptoms. However, in both cases when the medication is withdrawn the symptoms reappear.

Traditional psychotherapy has not worked well enough and psychosocial measures have not been supported by an active psychotherapy that secures its gains.
We believe that active psychotherapy integrated into a total treatment effort is the most promising approach. This is dependent on the training of interested professionals in essential treatment methods. Training in these areas will ensure that treatment comes alive and does not continue to be steeped in apathy and indifference, which we believe is the primary cause of failure in treating this population.

There is hope...if we have hope within ourselves. It is necessary to effect a rapprochement between modalities in order to develop better training and treatment centers. We are convinced based on our experience, that the end result of treatment will be greatly improved.

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