Efficacia clinica della terapia familiare sistemica nella schizofrenia : uno studio prospettico longitudinale

Aim. The present perspective longitudinal study, with one-year follow-up, aims at the evaluation of the clinical efficacy of the systemic family therapy, according to the School of Milan type, when treating schizophrenic patients compared with a control sample of patients under a routine psychiatric treatment. Methods. The case sample of the study consists of 20 patients under systemic family therapy associated to routine psichiatric treatment and 20 patients under psychiatric routine treatment. In addition, to the follow-up study participated 40 "key" relatives, thus with a higher Expressed Emotion (EE). Both groups of patients have been re-evaluated at the end of the therapy (T1) and 12 months after the end of the therapy (T2) to examine the clinical course of the illness and the social functioning. Results. At the end of the follow-up period we observed a better clinical course of the illness and a better pharmacological compliance in the group of patients who had attended the systemic family therapy: in the sperimental case sample 3 patients (15%) had relapsed against 13 patients (65%) of the control sample (p=0.03); the pharmacological compliance was good in all cases (100%), whereas it was good in 13 controls (65%) (p=0.04). Our study provides an innovative contribution about the evaluation of the clinical efficacy of the systemic family therapy in the treatment of schizophrenic patients. The clinical results are significant and encourage the use of this kind of therapy in the integrated treatment of schizophrenic patients.