Social skills training for schizophrenia?

To the Editor. — Hogarty and colleagues 1 have conducted an extremely important study on the treatment of schizophrenia. Their results shed considerable light on the potential impact of psychosocial interventions, and underscore the need for longitudinal evaluations of outcome. We find little to fault in the research design and data analysis; however, we disagree with what appears to be the overly pessimistic conclusion 1(p346) that the effects of psychosocial treatments in general, and social skills training (SST) in particular, dissolve once treatment ends. Based solely on examination of the final point in their 2-year survival analysis, SST does appear to provide little more than medication alone. However, as eloquently pointed out by Hogarty et al, this analysis provides a limited and misleading view of the overall effects of the intervention. The SST condition was as effective as either of the family treatment conditions until month 21 of the intervention. Had