Psychological and Psychosocial Interventions for People With Schizophrenia and Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorders

What is the efficacy of psychological and psychosocial interventions for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and comorbidity with substance use disorders?This systematic review and meta-analysis included 35 studies (4136 participants), with data available from 29 trials involving 3831 participants covered in pairwise meta-analysis. Psychological and psychosocial interventions offered a very small effect on reducing patients’ overall symptoms, and no difference was found between intervention and control groups in reduction of all types of substance use intake or when separately analyzed, whereas nicotine use showed a modest improvement.Current psychological and psychological interventions provide limited benefit for symptom reduction and were largely ineffective in decreasing substance use, except for a slight positive effect on nicotine use, indicating that more effective treatment strategies are urgently needed.

Corresponding Author: Stefan Leucht, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Ismaninger Str 22, 81675 München, Germany (stefan.leucht@tum.de).

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