Inpatient psychotherapy compared with usual care for patients who have schizophrenic psychoses.

The study examined whether some patients with schizophrenia benefit from intensive inpatient psychodynamic psychotherapy while others are harmed by it. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with combined data from a follow-up study of 25 inpatients who were treated in a psychotherapeutic program and a follow-up study of 71 patients who received standard hospital treatment. The mean duration of the follow-up period was seven years. The analyses showed that improvement in global mental health status from the index admission to follow-up was associated with the type of treatment and with the patient's clinical condition at the index admission. A strong interaction effect was found between these two variables. Psychotherapeutic inpatient programs may be beneficial to patients who have higher levels of global functioning at the start of treatment but detrimental to other patients.