Comparative Study of the Therapeutic Factors of Group Therapy in Schizophrenic Inpatients and Outpatients

Abstract

Although there is great interest and development in the investigation of group therapeutic factors, there are few studies regarding group psychotherapy with schizophrenic patients. Given the importance of both aspects in our work, the authors of this work have analyzed the therapeutic factors for schizophrenic patients in two types of group psychotherapy - inpatients and outpatients - based on Yalom's questionnaire of the therapeutic factors (altruism, cohesiveness, universality, interpersonal learning output and input, guidance, catharsis, identification, family re-enactment, comprehension, instillation of hope and existential factors) and applying the Q-sort method to analyze it. The aim is to learn the preferential evaluations of the therapeutic factors in each group in order to establish similarities and differences with regard to the type of therapy, group stage and type of patient, and to establish guidance to enable us to approach the psychotherapy with more specific and adequate techniques.