Psychosocial Rehabilitation for SchizophreniaPsychosocial rehabilitation is a learning-based approach using a token economy and social skills training to help patients with schizophrenia develop adaptive behaviors ( Nevid, Rathus and Green, 2003). To live successfully in the community, a variety of therapeutic approaches are available to people with schizophrenia. Some of the psychosocial rehabilitation options for people with schizophrenia include hospitalization, self-help clubs, family intervention programs, pharmacotherapies, and psychosocial treatments. Many treatments have been studied, the most effective being a combination of several treatments implemented simultaneously with others. Schizophrenia is an illness. Symptoms of schizophrenia are usually lifelong. People with schizophrenia have a distorted perception of reality that includes hallucinations and delusions affecting their thinking. They also have what are called negative symptoms; these include social withdrawal and blunted affect. In addition to thought and affect, there is also cognitive dysfunction. Symptoms of cognitive dysfunction include difficulty with attention, memory, and learning. Although genetic vulnerabilities to schizophrenia are believed to exist, a single genetic determinant has yet to be identified (Tamminga, 2003). Previous studies of interventions for schizophrenia have been almost entirely biological. These studies, called controlled clinical trials, were unsuccessful; the sample sizes were too small and did not provide useful data. Researchers knew that study design and reporting of results needed improvement. However, the studies concluded that a very important aspect of schizophrenia treatment had been left out. Researchers needed to include evaluation of psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia in order to provide a complete picture (Wahlbeck, Adams, & Thornley, 2000). Understanding the social dysfunction of schizophrenia helps refine psychosocial therapy. The ability of people with schizophrenia to give a coherent account of their lives is severely impaired. The disruption in their stories could be due to an organic process that limits their interest in the outside world or affects their ability to...... middle of paper ......berg, RW, Rollins, AL, &Lehman, AF, (2003). Social network is correlated among people with psychiatric disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 26 (4), 396. Lysaker, PH, Wickett, AM, Wilke, N. and Lysaker, J., (2003). Narrative incoherence in schizophrenia: the absent agent-protagonist and the collapse of internal dialogue. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 57 (2), 153Marder, SR, (2000). Integrate pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 102 (407), 87-90. Matus, J. (2003). A better drug for schizophrenia? Prevention, 55 (9), 170. Nevid, JS, Rathus, SA and Green, B. (2003). Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World, 5th ed. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 433. Tamminga, C.A., (2003). Schizophrenia, I, The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160 (5), 846 Wahlbeck K., Adams C. and Thornley, B., (2000). Much room for improvement: a survey of controlled trials in Nordic schizophrenia. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 54, 105-108. Psychosocial treatment of schizophrenia-Part I (2001). Harvard Mental Health Letter, 18(2), 1-4. Psychosocial treatment of schizophrenia-Part II (2001). Harvard Letter on Mental Health, 18 (3), 1-4.