Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Letters to the EditorFull AccessDr. Penn and Colleagues ReplyDAVID L. PENN Ph.D.EVAN J. WALDHETER M.A.DIANA O. PERKINS M.D.KIM T. MUESER Ph.D.JEFFREY A. LIEBERMAN M.D.,DAVID L. PENN Ph.D.Search for more papers by this authorEVAN J. WALDHETER M.A.Search for more papers by this authorDIANA O. PERKINS M.D.Search for more papers by this authorKIM T. MUESER Ph.D.Search for more papers by this authorJEFFREY A. LIEBERMAN M.D.Search for more papers by this author,Published Online:1 May 2006AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail To The Editor:We thank Dr. Kanas for his comments on our article and appreciate the opportunity to respond to his letter. However, we stand by our statement that, to our knowledge, no randomized, controlled trials of group intervention for first-episode psychosis have been conducted. Dr. Kanas is correct in pointing out that there is a large research literature on the effectiveness of group intervention for schizophrenia and that it is likely that many of these published studies included some first-episode patients. Similarly, it is likely that many of the controlled studies of other psychosocial treatments for the broader population of subjects with schizophrenia included some first-episode patients, such as studies of family psychoeducation, cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis, supported employment, and social skills training. However, because of the unique treatment needs of first-episode patients, our review focused on studies evaluating the effectiveness of psychosocial treatment for this specific subpopulation. When we consider the evidence supporting the effectiveness of group interventions for schizophrenia, as discussed by Dr. Kanas, there is clearly a need for research evaluating their impact on persons with a first episode of psychosis. We hope that our article, as well as the letter by Dr. Kanas, will contribute to future research in this area.Chapel Hill, N.C., New York, N.Y. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 163Issue 5 May, 2006Pages 938-938THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY May 2006 Volume 163 Number 5 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 May 2006 Published in print 1 May 2006