Social Skills Training for Schizophrenia, Second Edition

. - This book should be required reading for all those involved in the comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with schizophrenia. We recommend it highly. --Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 4/9/2004 The major strength of the book is that the authors provide all the necessary ingredients for implementing state-of-the-art social skills training as they focus on assessment, group leadership skills, and carrying out the group tasks with specific and well-designed curricula....This guide lives up to its step-by-step promise. It reflects the many years that the authors have spent in their collective careers translating a behavioral model of social skills with intended functional outcomes into clinical practice for a specific population....This guide also serves as a textbook for students, enabling them to make giant leaps in their understanding of the nature and execution of evidence-based practices for individuals with persistent mental illness, making clinical experiences more rewarding for trainees and more precise for their supervisors. This instruction manual has the makings to become a classic reference book on the topic of social skills training. --Community Mental Health Journal, 4/9/2004 This volume provides clinicians with a hands-on volume that will teach them to conduct clinically sophisticated and effective social skills training groups....Any clinician, regardless of experience level, who is interested in providing social skills training to individuals with schizophreniaor to their familieswill find a wealth of practical, clinically and empirically sound information. --Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 4/9/2004

Alan S. Bellack, PhD, ABPP, is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Psychology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Director of the VA Capitol Health Care Network Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). Kim T. Mueser, PhD, is Executive Director of the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Boston University. Dr. Mueser's clinical and research interests include psychiatric rehabilitation for persons with severe mental illnesses, intervention for co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders, and the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. He has served on numerous editorial boards, has published many journal articles and book chapters, and has coauthored over 10 books. His book The Complete Family Guide to Schizophrenia (with Susan Gingerich) received the National Alliance on Mental Illness NYC Metro Ken Book Award. Susan Gingerich, MSW, is a full-time trainer and consultant based in Narberth, Pennsylvania. Julie Agresta, MSS, MEd, is a licensed social worker in private practice in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.

I. Principles, Format, and Techniques for Social Skills Training of Clients with Schizophrenia 1. Schizophrenia and Social Skills 2. Social Skills Training as an Evidence-Based Practice 3. Assessment of Social Skills 4. Teaching Social Skills 5. Starting a Skills Group 6. Using Curricula for Social Skills Training Groups 7. Tailoring Skills for Individual Needs 8. Troubleshooting: Common Problems and Challenging Clients 9. Working with Clients Who Abuse Drugs and Alcohol 10. Reducing Relapse by Creating a Supportive Environment 11. Parting Tips for Social Skills Trainers II. Steps for Teaching Specific Social Skills: Curricular Skill Sheets Appendix A. Materials Useful to Group Leaders Appendix B. Materials Related to Assessment