ABSTRACT
Family-based interventions have played a major part in the search for effective management of schizophrenia. Early efforts focused on observations that the patterns of family interaction with the person suffering from a schizophrenic disorder appeared distorted and confusing. As a consequence, family therapists sought to unravel these “abnormal” communication patterns and thereby reduce the cognitive distortions underlying the index patient’s disturbed thought processes. Once the index patient could express him- or herself freely without resorting to the cognitive distortions inherent in delusions, hallucinations, and thought interference, it was assumed that these symbolic expressions would melt away. Schizophrenia was considered to be a coping response that the index patient learned to exhibit to deal with a “crazy-making” family environment.
