A Follow-Up Study of Intensively Treated Chronic Schizophrenic Patients
MICHEL MESSIER M.D.1,
RICHARD FINNERTY M.A.2,
CONSTANCE S. BOTVIN 3, , and
LESTER GRINSPOON M.D.4
1 Psychiatrist at the Service de Hospitalization Domicile, Paris, France
2 Unit psychologist, Boston State Hospital
3 Massachusetts Mental Health Center, 74 Fenwood Rd., Boston, Mass. 02115
4 Massachusetts Mental Health Center, 74 Fenwood Rd., Boston, Mass. 02115, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Two groups of chronic schizophrenic patients were treated with intensive psychotherapy for a period of two years, starting in 1962 and 1964. Half of the patients also took phenothiazines. Control groups at a local state hospital received phenothiazines but no psychotherapy. A follow-up of the groups on three tests of adjustment, administered at the end of 1967, indicated some trends toward better adjustment by patients who had received psychotherapy but there were no statistically significant differences among the groups.
