Schizophrenia has historically been defined as one of the most chronic and acute psychiatric conditions. Schizophrenia has been found to lead to a myriad of both direct (e.g., cognitive decline, medication side effects) and associated challenges (e.g., substance misuse, homelessness, interpersonal loneliness; Seidman & Mirsky, 2017; Rognoni et al., 2021; Dickey et al., 2000; Folsom & Jeste, 2002; Mickalska da Rocha et al., 2018). Overall, this disorder results in substantial individual, family, and community burden. Various group treatment options have been found to effectively treat those with schizophrenia. Some have focused on integrative treatments (Kanas, 2020), here we focus on singular treatments for schizophrenia.

The evidence-based group treatments highlighted here were selected based on the results of a recent meta-analysis looking at group therapy for schizophrenia (Burlingame et al., 2020). This meta-analysis examined RCTs of those with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder). The following modalities were found to have significant effects on positive and negative schizophrenia symptoms.

The page of promising treatments for schizophrenia includes one additional approach (ACT for Psychosis) with emerging group research support.