Psychological Integrated Therapy: clinical experience with a group of patients schizophrenic

In the last few years have been positively evaluated cognitive-behavioral interventions on patients with schizophrenia (Lehman & Steinwachs, 2003): however, the limit of the success of these interventions is tied especially to the cognitive impairment that this disease involves. The IPT (Integrated Psychological Therapy) is based on the assumption that the neurocognitive deficits of schizophrenic patients and, in particular, the difficulty in processing information, have negative repercussions on social skills and adaptive behavior (Brenner et al., 1997). The finality of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of IPT in terms of improving neurocognitive functions and social in a group of schizophrenic patients, independently of the length and the chronicity of the disease. The intervention was conducted on 6 patients aged between 25 and 55 years with a diagnosis of schizophreniatype residue, recruited at the Policlinico of Messina. Patients were evaluated through a clinical and neurocognitive semi-structured interview “Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale – PANSS” (Kay, Opler, & Fiszbein, 1987), which consists of three scales (positive, negative, psychopathological) to assess the primary symptoms of schizophrenia. For the evaluation of the level of intelligence has used the WAIS-R, referring mainly to three subtests: Completion of figures, Picture Arrangement, Block Design. The results indicate the presence of an improvement in the cognitive areas explored in the three subtests. These results confirm the effectiveness of IPT and show an improved social functioning of patients which results in a more adequate ability to identify a problem, in an increase of the search for meaningful social relations and interactions, in a better picture of itself.