[Effect of social factors on the long-term course of schizophrenia]

Abstract

On the basis of the literature and of his own research concerning the long-term-evolution and the vocational rehabilitation of schizophrenics, the author shows that social factors play an important role in the long-term-evolution of schizophrenia. Of particular importance is the influence of the therapeutic setting, of overtaxing "life-events", of the family atmosphere, of the institutional infrastructure, of the expectations of the social environment, and of several socio-economic and cultural factors. Biological and psychosocial influences can be combined into a multiconditional model of schizophrenia in three phases, in which the vulnerability- und information-processing-hypothesis are central. This model leads to interesting consequences for the prevention and the therapy of schizophrenia.