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The use of drama therapy in the treatment of people with schizophrenia in a theatre group has a tradition of almost 40 years in Krakow. The preparation of performances and appearances in front of an audience requires the components known from social skills training. In this work, a brief description of the development of "Psyche" theatre and its place in a community-based comprehensive treatment programme is described, using Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as an example.

Premorbid social relationships and the course of schizophrenia in a 20-year follow-up study.

Objectives: An important dimension indicating a growing risk of psychosis outbreak and its subsequent unfavorable course is deteriorating social functioning, especially the lack of sufficient social relationships. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of the quality of social contacts and the scope of support system before the onset of the illness with treatment outcomes in clinical and social dimension in various time intervals of the 20-year illness course.

Methods: During the first hospitalization, an 80-person group living in Krakow and suffering from schizophrenia was selected, diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria and examined six times: at admission and discharge during first hospitalization, after 3, 7, 12 and 20 years.

The influence of early psychosocial intervention on the long-term clinical outcomes of people suffering from schizophrenia.

Objectives: To compare the treatment outcomes of DSM-IV-TR schizophrenia patients in either a Community Treatment Program or an Individual Treatment Program (CTP vs. ITP). The assessment was made after the first hospitalization, and then after three and twelve years.

The significance of the personality traits of schizophrenic patients and their therapists for the therapeutic relationship.

Objectives: To analyse: 1) the associations between the therapists' and patients' assessments of the relationship, 2) the relationship between the personality traits of the therapists the personality traits of the patients and their assessments of the relationship, 3) the relationship between age, sex and the personality traits of both groups and their assessment of the relationship.

Methods: 34 patients in long-term psychotherapy and their 11 therapists were investigated. The Dyadic Therapist-Patient Relationship Questionnaire, The Costa and McCraeea's NEO-FFI Personality Inventory, Pearson coefficients of correlation and the regression analysis were used.

[The effect of two predictors' interaction on short- and long-term treatment outcomes of schizophrenia].

Objectives: To monitor the effect of interaction of duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and expressed emotion (EE) on treatment outcomes in schizophrenia.

Methods: 56 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were assessed at 4 time points. The number of relapses, the number and duration of rehospitalizations and the severity of symptoms were assessed at index hospitalization and at 3, 7 and 12-year follow-ups.

The predictive validity of expressed emotions (EE) in schizophrenia. A 20-year prospective study.

Background: The level of expressed emotions in the family (EE) and components thereof (emotional over-involvement EOI, and critical comments CC) have been found to be related to treatment outcomes in psychotic patients. One point of interest is the dynamic of various outcomes in relation to initial EE, CC and EOI levels.

Method: 43 individuals with diagnosis of schizophrenia were assessed at 1, 3, 7, 12 and 20-year follow-ups.

Prognostic value of duration of untreated psychosis in long-term outcome of schizophrenia.

Background: The goal of this prognostic study was to investigate whether the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) may have a prognostic value with regard to the further course of the illness.

Material/methods: Fifty-eight patients (77% of the original study group) diagnosed with DSM III schizophrenia and later re-diagnosed with DSM IV T-R were assessed at 4 time points. Number of relapses, average time of inpatient treatment, number of inpatient readmissions, and severity of psychopathological symptoms were assessed at 1-, 3-, 7- and 12-year follow-ups.

[The prospective assessment of the influence of duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) on the course of schizophrenia].

Aim: This study is a part of a prospective schizophrenia research project run in Krak6w. The general objective of the project is a long-time observation of people with schizophrenia, starting from the first episode through the years of living with the illness, the assessment of treatment results and predictors. The goal of this study was to investigate whether the level of DUP before the first admission may have a prognostic value in regard to the further course of the illness.

Anticipated and experienced stigma among people with schizophrenia: its nature and correlates.

Background: In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the stigma experienced by people with mental illnesses and their families. The aim of this study is to assess the amount of stigma anticipated and experienced by schizophrenia patients in one region of Poland and to examine how these figures relate to socio-demographic and clinical correlates.

Method: Subjective stigmatisation was assessed using the Inventory of Stigma Experiences of Psychiatric Patients.