ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the internal barriers that impede socialization: the fear of intimacy. One might argue that this has no place in a short-term program as it is a long-term issue. It takes most people many years to develop a sense of comfort with genuine intimacy. It takes psychiatric patients even longer. What I focus on in this chapter, however, is isolation. Isolation exacerbates depression and should, therefore, be a target of treatment, even short-term treatment. I don't expect that people will have many relationships of great depth by the end of their stay in a short-term program. Still, they may resolve to make one or two friends, or they may pick up the telephone and call someone with whom they lost contact when they became symptomatic. Their relationships with family members may improve. These gains may contribute to prevent future hospitalizations.
