Authors: Gillian R M Steggles
Background: The Psychodynamic Pentapointed Cognitive Construct (PPCC) model [1] illustrates visually that schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder may be resolved in patients through the psychological treatment technique of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, utilizing also psychotropic medication as required. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the veracity of how this may be achieved; and then to present the evidence base for this therapeutic process described by visualization so that it may be replicated.
Methods: The author studied the illness schizoaffective disorder closely, and then investigated how schizophrenic illness could be treated. She made a careful Case Study of a schizoaffective patient who was recovering through Kleinian psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and benefiting also from psychotropic medication. The findings from this Case Study were then compared with the clinical results of the work of a psychiatrically-trained psychoanalyst
in Massachusetts, USA, Dr Michael Robbins MD [2], who has conducted psychoanalytic psychotherapy on his portfolio of 18 paranoid schizophrenic patients.
Findings: The PPCC model’s formulation of the specific recovery process when using psychoanalytic psychotherapy, from the patient’s perspective, coincided precisely with the therapist’s perspective of the Stages of recovery observed by Dr Robbins. This indicates a process where the two experiences of the therapy corroborate each other. The factors underpinning this corroboration were then enumerated to present the evidence base for the process.
Conclusion: This paper provides evidence on a very small scale that demonstrates that this treatment is clinically
effective.
Clinical Implications: It can be delivered safely and cost-effectively
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