The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine: Foreword

It is my privilege to introduce these two special issues of The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine containing selected papers presented at the VlIIth International Symposium on Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia: New Approaches to Psychosocial Intervention. The manuscripts published here were selected first by the Editorial and Program Committee, consisting of Drs. Lyman Wynne (Rochester, New York), Daniel P. Schwartz (Stockbridge, Massachusetts), Ira Levine (New Haven, Connecticut), John Gunderson (Boston, Massachusetts), Stephen Fleck (New Haven, Connecticut) and Drs. Yrjo Alanen (Turku, Finland), Jarl Jorstad (Oslo, Norway), Helm Stierlin (Heidelberg, West Germany), Pekka Tienari (Oulu, Finland), Dr. Endre Ugelstad (Oslo), and then by the Editorial Board of the Journal. We are greatly indebted to the Editor of this prestigious journal and to his colleagues for making this publication possible. The Symposium, furthermore, could not have taken place without the additional work of a local arrangements committee: Ms. Mady Chalk, Dr. Charles W. Gardner, Drs. Theodore Lidz, Stan Possick, Robert Rosenheck, and Mr. Lawrence Berger, as well as Dr. Levine and myself. Noteworthy is the fact that this was the first such symposium to be held in the United States at a time, as noted by Dr. Theodore Lidz in his keynote address, when interest in the psychotherapy of schizophrenics is rather low in the United States compared with Europe, a reversal in orientation and research in the two areas over the last quarter-century. Nevertheless, the participation and enthusiasm of the audience of over 300 colleagues, in addition to those involved in the program, conveyed anything but a sense of stagnation or pessimism about the topic. A list of all program contributors is presented at the end of the second special issue. One of the most important features of the conference was five case presentations with a panel of discussants, including one simulated family therapy session. These excellent and well-received presentations are not included in this volume for various reasons, including confidentiality and the severe space limitation imposed by our limited resources. The papers in this volume are arranged in an order that approximates a progression from theoretical and epidemiological topics in the first issue to problems in psychopathological developments and research, to treatment issues and program evaluations, ranging from dyadic psychotherapy to family and group treatments, and finally to a proposal for "global therapy," an action research report from Turku, Finland, representing probably the most comprehensive project with ongoing program evaluation in this field anywhere. It has been my honor to coordinate the work of arranging the symposium program and of this publication. Not only I but the readers are indebted to the committees mentioned above, who deserve our thanks, as do all the participants in the symposium, presenters and audience alike, for this successful event.