The Psychoeducational Model and Case Management: The Role of Marital and Family Therapy in the Treatment of the Chronically Mentally Ill

Since the discovery of the efficacy of neuroleptic medication and the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s, case management has been adopted as the most effective method, both clinically and economically, of delivering service to individuals who suffer from severe and chronic mental illness. Schizophrenia, the major illness afflicting the severely and chronically mentally ill, is multidetermined. The stress-diathesis model, a combination of genetic, biological, and environmental factors, is generally accepted as a basis for treatment (Zubin and Spring, 1977). Such a complex illness requires the cooperation of many professionals and a combination of many therapeutic approaches, both psychopharmacological and psychosocial.