Social Skills Training for Schizophrenia, First Edition: A Step-by-Step Guide (TREATMENT MANUALS FOR PRACTITIONERS)

This book is an essential tool for psychiatric rehabilitation. As with the previous edition, these eminent and highly regarded authors present a step-by-step guide to developing extremely successful social skills training programs. The second edition addresses the significant problem of substance abuse by providing carefully planned, customized group procedures and clever handouts specifically designed to address social skills deficits in the dual diagnosis population. Another highlight of this edition is its comprehensive review of the many clinical trials that have established social skills training as a decidedly effective, evidence-based practice for improving a wide range of community outcomes for those with schizophrenia. --Dawn I. Velligan, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

The second edition of this highly successful book is a very useful guide for all mental health professionals who work with persons with chronic schizophrenia. After stabilizing the acute episode with antipsychotic medications, the rehabilitation begins, and this book enables practitioners to optimize clients' functional outcomes. The new chapters about social skills training as an evidence-based practice and about working with clients who abuse drugs and alcohol are particularly relevant and useful. As a clinical supervisor of psychiatric trainees, I will strongly urge my supervisees and other members of the mental health treatment team to use this guide to facilitate the integration of biological and psychosocial management approaches. --Henry A. Nasrallah, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati Medical Center

The definitive text on the topic. This second edition will be extraordinarily valuable both for experienced clinicians with a background in social skills training and for those who are interested in expanding their skills by adapting this evidence-based practice. The strength of this volume is that it provides a scholarly discussion of social deficits in schizophrenia together with a highly practical approach for conducting social skills training. --Stephen R. Marder, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles