ABSTRACT
Schizophrenia has fascinated health professionals and ordinary people since the beginning of humankind. This chapter presents an integrative model for the psychotherapy of individuals suffering from schizophrenic symptoms. Emphasis is mostly on the amelioration of extreme anxiety, suspiciousness, delusions and hallucinations which the author considers the cardinal schizophrenic symptoms. The approach contains an integration of psychodynamic and humanistic principles as well as pharmacotherapy. The chapter explores the principles of integrative psychotherapy for individuals with schizophrenic symptoms. It is proposed that schizophrenia does not constitute a specific “mental disorder” with specific aetiology, evolutionary course and treatment. Rather, there are individuals who exhibit “schizophrenic symptoms” or, a certain constellation of “positive” and/or “negative” psychotic symptoms with considerable individual differences in aetiology, evolution in time and appropriate therapy. “The psychotherapy of individuals with schizophrenic symptoms presents a good model to study psychotherapy in general because of the wealth of information available today about the role of various biological, psychological, social and cultural factors”.
