ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Cognitive behavioral therapy of schizophrenia has been developed as a psychological therapy for drug resistant patients with schizophrenia. However, there are some controversial issues regarding the size and mode of the therapeutic effect. The aim of this study is to compare the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy with supportive therapy after treatment. METHODS: Patients with drug resistant schizophrenia were randomly allocated, and stratified according to two mental health institutes to two different therapy groups. We used four assessment scales to evaluate residual symptoms of patients in detail. Patients were assessed twice by a blind rater, at baseline and after treatment. RESULTS: No significant differences in the change of PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) scores were observed between the cognitive behavioral therapy and supportive therapy groups at one month after treatment. There was no significant difference in change of K-PSYRATS (Korean-Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale)-Delusion score, however, a trend toward significance in K-PSYRATS - Hallucination was observed between the two groups. In the aspect of insight, a significant difference in the change of SDMD-K (The Scale to assessment Unawareness of Mental Disorder-Korean version) score was observed between the two groups after treatment. CONCLUSION: Despite remarkable development of pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia, many patients still suffer from residual symptoms. Findings of this study showed that cognitive behavioral therapy can improve the insight of patients and reduce the severity of residual positive symptoms, especially hallucination. Cognitive behavioral therapy should be practiced effectively in the psychiatric clinic and community mental health system.