Interpersonal techniques for optimizing positive outcomes in the inpatient psychiatric rehabilitation of schizophrenia

There now exist a number of milieu-based and group-based behavioral treatments that have demonstrated effectiveness with so-called "treatment-refractory" schizophrenia patients. These interventions are not likely to achieve their maximal impact, however, unless program staff consistently employ behavioral principles in their moment-to-moment interactions with patients throughout the day. In this paper we describe a number of interpersonal techniques that are effective in dealing with a variety of institutionalized/dependent and provocative/aggressive behaviors. Each technique is explained and detailed examples are given to demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate staff responses to patient behavior. The discussion ends with the description of a successful behavior contract that employed a number of these techniques.