The long term management of chronic ambulatory schizophrenic patients represents a problem in spite of the advent of neuroleptics. The most appropriate regimen seems to be group therapy combined with pharmacotherapy. In this paper we suggest that the group is more easily managed by co-therapists (usually a psychiatric nurse and a psychiatrist). This permits a transference dilution and helps the therapists to maintain a constant motivation.
We describe such a group functioning on a long term period of over six years. We also comment on the characteristics of these patients, on the criteria we use to include them in the group and on the technique we learned to use. We discuss the fact that, in our view, it is possible to induce some structural changes in these patients and that the technique is not simply supportive.
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