Psychotherapy With Command Hallucinations in Chronic Schizophrenia: The Use of Action Techniques Within a Surrogate Family Setting

ALBERT M. HONIG

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ALBERT M. HONIG Author

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Abstract

Most patients who hear command hallucinations ignore them. Patients who hear repetitive commands with an intrusive preemptory quality or for an extended period of time are at high risk. They remain dangerous to themselves or others, with deficit symptoms that have proved stubbornly resistant to traditional treatment strategies. I have developed action psychotherapeutic techniques, using
the principles of psychodrama, that, in theory, take a strong oppositional position to command hallucinations in a battle for the patient's mind. The techniques described here are active, emotion-laden. They are designed to alter the whole-person system, either structurally or communicatively rather than in only one dimension. They are imaginative and often produce a sudden or radical quantum jump in the system to a different and higher level of functioning.

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Psychotherapy With Command Hallucinations in Chronic Schizophrenia: The Use of Action Techniques Within a Surrogate Family Setting

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