The importance of the role of the patient in outcome in schizophrenia

The Family Interpersonal Perception Test (FIPT) was used to explore the relationships between schizophrenic patients and their parents, and how these related both to relapse in the year after discharge and to improvement in social functioning. Forty schizophrenic patients and their parents were tested during their first ever admission to hospital and again two years later. Parents' and patient's views of each other were more negative in those with worse outcome, but what most significantly distinguished groups with different outcomes was how patients expected their parents to see them. The FIPT, therefore, reveals patterns of interaction in which the patient's role in outcome is at least as important as that of the parents, and can aid the identification of specific features with which to work in therapy.