Experience of socio-psychological rehabilitation of patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders using the Therapy with Creative Self-Expression by M. E. Burno

Abstract

Socio-psychological rehabilitation is an essential component of modern complex therapy of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Psychotherapy is one of the main forms of such rehabilitation, and Therapy with Creative Self-Expression by M. E. Burno (TCSE) is one of psychotherapeutic techniques suitable for use in this area. This domestic method is actively applied today in various regions of the Russian Federation, but its official recognition is still insufficient. The purpose of the study: to supplement the available information on the effectiveness of TCSE in the field of socio-psychological rehabilitation of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders based on summarizing many years of experience in the practical use of this method. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on the basis of the Republican Clinical Mental Health Center (Izhevsk), where group TCSE has been used for the past 25 years. In total, 270 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders passed through the TCSE groups during this period; of these, 240 patients received short-term TCSE (4 months) and 30 patients — long-term TCSE (2–5 years or more). To assess the rehabilitation effect of the method, two study samples corresponding to the two variants of TCSE were formed, with 30 participants in each. Results. The use of short-term TCSE in patients significantly reduced the severity of most psychopathological symptoms assessed on the SCL-90‑R scale (the decrease in the overall symptom severity index was 16.67 %) and considerably increased the indicators of 7 out of 13 subscales of schizophrenia patients' quality of life questionnaire by V. L. Kozlovsky and S. Yu. Maslovsky. The use of long-term TCSE reduced the average annual rate of hospitalization to a mental health hospital by 71.4 % and the average duration of one hospitalization by 21.5 %. Conclusion. The TCSE method is quite effective in the field of socio-psychological rehabilitation of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. It is proposed to include this technique in official clinical guidelines for the treatment of the specified disorders.