TY  - JOUR
T1  - A contraindication for family therapy: The prepsychotic or postpsychotic young adult and his parents
AU  - Guttman HA
Y1  - 1973/09/01
N1  - 10.1001/archpsyc.1973.04200030050007
JO  - Archives of General Psychiatry
SP  - 352
EP  - 355
VL  - 29
IS  - 3
N2  - Conjoint family therapy is not helpful and can be harmful in treating extremely anxious young patients who are on the verge of decompensating into or have scarcely recompensated from an acute psychotic breakdown. This is probably because the person's already overwhelming anxiety is increased and his ability to express his feelings is correspondingly decreased when he is made aware of his enormous ambivalent dependency on his parents and of their rejecting attitude.It might be important to vary the type of therapy at different stages of treatment. Therapy should be more supportive and directive at times when the patient is about to decompensate and more insight and affect-oriented only at later stages of treatment, when the patient's defenses are sufficiently reconstituted and he has enough objectivity to tolerate this type of therapy.
SN  - 0003-990X
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1973.04200030050007
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1973.04200030050007
ER  -