Change in a schizophrenic adolescent as a result of a series of rage-reduction treatments.
A 15-year-old schizophrenic girl with many autistic features was observed to have minimal gains from verbal (individual and family) psychotherapy. A course of six rage-reduction sessions was carried out. Effects of the treatment was assessed by daily ratings made by attendants in the ward setting and by a recreation therapist. Both short term and long term effects were assessed. Short term improvement was noted in the ward ratings on dimensions assessed: eye contact when requested; eye contact, spontaneous; speech quality; expression of feelings; interaction with peers; frequency of autistic behaviors; and interaction with adults. In recreation therapy (using fewer observations), short term improvements were noted in all except two of the dimensions: eye contact, spontaneous; and interaction with peers. Long term (pretreatment vs. post-treatment) gains were evident in the ward ratings on all areas except expression of feelings. In the recreation therapy setting, only frequency of autistic behavior showed a stable improvement. The therapist working with the patient also noticed more global changes, and suggested that rating such dimensions as depth of self-disclosure and willingness to confront important issues in verbal psychotherapy would also show interesting results. Methodological weaknesses of the study are mentioned, and guidelines for future work on this problem are suggested.
D000293:Adolescent; D000786:Anger; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011616:Psychotherapy, Multiple; D011889:Rage; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D014705:Verbal Behavior