Providing a cost-effective treatment model that is respectful of patients' needs, their strengths, and their limitations, this book presents the first dynamic and coherent approach to group treatment for the chronically mentally ill. By structuring members' variable attendance, the flexibly bound model, which utilizes group dynamic principles to maximize therapeutic opportunities, respects the actual behavior of many chronically ill persons, making this treatment format available to a broad portion of this population. Illustrated with numerous case vignettes, the book outlines the elements of supportive treatment and therapeutic goals and then describes in detail specific strategies and interventions.

Walter N. Stone, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine. A coauthor (with J. Scott Rutan) of Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy, he is past president of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, a Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association, and has written over 30 articles on group psychotherapy training and practice.

Tags: group psychotherapy for people with chronic mental illness