The role of social relationships in the recovery from psychotic disorders.

Little attention outside the therapeutic setting has been given to specifying the aspects of social relationships that might be helpful for patients recovering from psychotic episodes. The authors studied 20 patients who had been hospitalized for a psychotic episode for 1 year following discharge to examine the role their social relationships played during this period. The data show that 12 functions of social relationships were important and that there were two phases of social needs--convalescence and rebuilding--over the recovery period. The authors discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings.