Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2018
With large numbers of psychotic patients now living in the community, there is growing appreciation of the influence of family life on the long-term social outcome of chronic schizophrenia. From the work of Brown, Birley and Wing (1972) it appears that to achieve and maintain optimum clinical stability in ‘typical’ chronic schizophrenia, it is desirable that face-to-face contact between patients and emotional relatives should be held to a minimum and that phenothiazine drugs should be used to soften the impact on the patient of sudden and stressful life changes. Reviewing the many social problems which accrue from this general treatment approach, Stevens (1973) noted a distinct lack of evaluative study of psychotic patients who actually live in the community.
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