aims The authors discuss, through a literature review, the effectiveness of individual psychotherapy in addition to the standard pharmacological treatment in schizophrenia.
methods Literature review (1989-1999) of randomized controlled trials.
results Individual psychotherapy, in addition to the standard pharmacological treatment, improves outcome measures by 0.46 standard deviation. Long-term individual psychotherapy decreases the number of psychotic and affectively disturbed episodes in patients living with family members. Individual cognitive-behavioural therapy results in a clinically relevant decrease in psychotic symptoms resistant to treatment with antipsychotic medication.
conclusion Individual psychotherapy is effective in addition to pharmacological treatment in subgroups of patients with schizophrenia.