Irwin Rosenfarb - US grants

This study will examine the family transactions of 152 patients and their families who recently participated in the NIMH Collaborative Study on Treatment Strategies in Schizophrenia. The proposed study will determine: a) whether family transactions at baseline predict patient stabilization on medication; b) whether family transactions at baseline predict which patients will do well on low doses of fluphenazine decanoate; and c) whether family transactions change as a result of a short-term trial of applied family management. Based on preliminary findings, it is hypothesized that patients from families who display a negative, escalating, disruptive, transactional relationship at baseline will be less likely to be stabilized on psychotropic mediacations after an acute episode of schizophrenia and will be more likely to relapse on low doses of fluphenazine. Furthermore, it is hypothesized atat a short-term trial of applied family management will interrup this negative cycle and thus families who both short a negative transactional pattern and receive applied family management will display a benign family interaction pattern at the end of a home-based family treatement.