A controlled study, investigating the effects of an activity treatment program on the behavior of 18 severely regressed schizophrenic patients, indicated that a one-year program produced definite changes toward improved hospital adjustment and a reduction in symptoms of severe pathology. Psychological test results indicate that the changes were fairly superficial, little inroad being made on the schizophrenic process itself.
Standard psychological procedures are limited in usefulness as some patients are unwilling or unable to co-operate. However, a highly suggestive relationship was found between co-operativeness and other measures of pathology.
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