RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Mentalization-based therapy (MBT), a manualized psychodynamically and developmentally oriented psychotherapy, has been proven effective in controlled studies in non-psychotic patients with severe mental disorders. Although MBT is currently being used to treat schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), to date no prospective studies have evaluated outcomes and treatment-related adverse effects. Brief mentalization-based group psychotherapy (B-MBGT) is a 12-week program based on the explicit mentalizing techniques of MBT. The study was conducted at a day hospital (DH) and the main objective was to examine the feasibility of B-MBGT to treat patients with SSD. METHOD: Open study to assess the safety of B-MBGT in 72 patients who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or unspecified psychotic disorder. All patients underwent both B-MBGT and Integrated Psychological Therapy (IPT). Consequently, a secondary aim was to compare these two therapies in terms of acceptance and subjective efficacy. RESULTS: Adverse reactions were scarce and the most common of the reported ones, discomfort during the group treatment session, was considered mild in most cases. Compared to IPT, B-MBGT yielded significant higher scores on four subjective efficacy parameters. CONCLUSION: B-MBGT in DH is both feasible and safe in SSD patients and most patients in this study considered B-MBGT to be beneficial. Controlled studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of B-MBGT.