Contemporary Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Patients with Schizophrenia in Taiwan

Contemporary Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Patients with Schizophrenia in Taiwan

Psychosocial treatments such as family therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are recommended for patients with schizophrenia and psychosis as adjunctive to antipsychotic drugs, and they have been found to be beneficial. Many research in psychosocial interventions for patients with schizophrenia and psychosis without or with decreased antipsychotic dosages were conducted in from 1960s to 1990s. These included psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy, family therapy, and psycho-education. Recently, psychosocial interventions have been evoluted to neuroplasticity and CBT. Since 2000s, cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) is the mainstream psychotherapy for patients with schizophrenia (Table 1). In this editorial, the authors are reviewing some related studies in Taiwan and giving some suggestions for the readers of the Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry.