Group Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients (Clinical Practice)

While not demonstrating that his approach is superior to others, Kanas does provide impressive patient acceptance of his approach with less than a 20 percent drop out rate and does provide before-and-after results that confirm positive outcomes.

This book is, therefore, a valuable addition to the literature and should be a must for all individuals treating both acutely and chronically ill schizphrenic patients in a wide variety of settings.

Dr. Kanas has written a very readable and well-referenced book. The tables and vignettes used throughout make the information highly accessible. Mental health professionals of all disciplines who are new to providing group therapy to individuals with schizophrenia will find it a particularly useful text.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that disrupts thought, mood, and behavior and afflicts 1% of the population worldwide. In the United States alone, some three million people will experience the pain and anguish of this severe, chronic illness, and millions more of their family and friends will be affected indirectly. Although antipsychotic medications generally are considered to be the primary treatment intervention for this condition, these drugs are not cures. Symptoms in many patients fail to respond adequately to drug treatment, and even patients continue to experience psychosocial problems. There is a critical need for new treatment approaches that are safe and that will help these patients deal effectively with their inner and outer worlds.

In controlled studies, group therapy has been found to be a useful adjunct to medication to help schizophrenic patients cope with their illness and relate better to others. Group Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients acquaints mental health practitioners with a safe, helpful, and cost-effective method of treatment that has resulted from more than 20 years of clinical practice and research. Practical guidelines and clinical vignettes help the reader in leading such groups in inpatient, and outpatient, and short-term settings. The book considers important theoretical and clinical issues, such as treatment goals, patient selection, relevant discussion topics, and therapeutic process. Although this book is basically a "how-to" treatment manual, it does include chapters about history, theory, and research involving group therapy with schizophrenic patients.

Health care workers and trainees who provide services to schizophrenic patients and their families will find Group Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients of particular interest. The book is beneficial for students as well as experienced practitioners, for staff in state and federal hospitals as well as in managed care settings and private offices, for researchers as well as clinicians, and for experienced group therapists as well as novices in this therapeutic modality.

Nick Kanas, M.D., is Professor and Director of the Group Therapy Training Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the Assistant Chief of the Psychiatry Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California. Dr. Kanas is a Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He currently directs a NASA-funded study involving crew member interactions in space. Dr. Kanas has written more than 70 papers, books, and book chapters on group therapy and small-group behavior.