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Review
. 2024 May 1;37(3):131-139.
doi: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000925. Epub 2024 Feb 15.

Evidence-based psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia: a critical review

Stefano Barlati  1   2 , Gabriele Nibbio  1 , Antonio Vita  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Evidence-based psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia: a critical review

Stefano Barlati et al. Curr Opin Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) are severe conditions that frequently produce significant impairment in cognitive performance, social skills and psychosocial functioning. As pharmacological treatment alone often provides only limited improvements on these outcomes, several psychosocial interventions are employed in psychiatric rehabilitation practice to improve of real-world outcomes of people living with SSD: the present review aims to provide a critical overview of these treatments, focusing on those that show consistent evidence of effectiveness.

Recent findings: Several recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have investigated in detail the acceptability, the effectiveness on several specific outcomes and moderators of response of different psychosocial interventions, and several individual studies have provided novel insight on their implementation and combination in rehabilitation practice.

Summary: Cognitive remediation, metacognitive training, social skills training, psychoeducation, family interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, physical exercise and lifestyle interventions, supported employment and some other interventions can be fully considered as evidence-based treatments in SSD. Psychosocial interventions could be of particular usefulness in the context of early intervention services. Future research should focus on developing newer interventions, on better understanding the barriers and the facilitators of their implementation in clinical practice, and exploring the opportunities provided by novel technologies.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

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