Reprinted from the German Journal of Psychiatry http://www.gjpsy.uni-goettingen.de ISSN 1433-1055 Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Patients with Schizotypal Disorder in an Indian Setting: A Retrospective Review of Clinical Data Abdul Salam K. P. 1 , Manjula M. 1 , Paulomi M. Sudhir 1 , Mahendra P. Sharma 1 1 Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India Corresponding author: Dr. Manjula M., Ph. D., Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India, 560029, E-mail: drmanjula71@gmail.com Abstract Background: Schizotypal Disorder is a long standing disorder which has largely been neglected in research till recent years. This study aims to provide the clinical reality of using CBT with this population at a specialized CBT clinic in a tertiary psychiatric hospital in India. Method: The clinical records of CBT with 22 patients were reviewed and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data obtained. Results: The mean age of the sample was 29.81 years and 20 (91%) were males. Sixteen of them (73%) were treated as inpatients and 12 (54%) out of 22 of had dropped out of therapy. The most common co-morbidities were that of OCD and Social Phobia. The commonly used techniques across the patients were social skills training, behavioral ac- tivation, problem-solving training, cognitive restructuring and relaxation training. Family relationship problems con- tinued to be a concern for 68% of them at the end of therapy. The major challenges were that of poor home-work com- pliance, reluctance to reveal information, and lack of ‘motivation’. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of individualized treatments rather than following structured proto- cols and the need to develop shorter, yet intensive models of therapy integrating family intervention with CBT in a de- veloping country like India (German J Psychiatry 2013; 16(2): 68-74). Keywords: Schizotypal personality disorder, cognitive behavior therapy, clinical practice patterns, treatment protocols, retrospective study Received: 5.12.2012 Revised version: 29.3.2013 Published: 1.8.2013 Introduction chizotypal disorder is a long-standing disorder which can have debilitating social and occupational conse- quences (Thaker et al., 2001). There have been several issues concerning Schizotypal Disorder, beginning with what constitutes the disorder, where its place in the overall catego- rization of psychiatric disorders is and what is the optimal treatment. Prognosis for the disorder has been poor (Skodol et al., 2005). Despite all this, the disorder has received very little research attention till recent years (Raine et al., 1995). Schizotypal Disorder was first described in DSM-III (Ameri- can Psychiatric Association, 2000) where it was classified along with other personality disorders (which is true even in DSM-IV). In ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1993), the disorder was re-categorized along with schizophrenia in consideration of its resemblance to schizophrenia. ICD-10 defines Schizotypal Disorder as characterized by eccentric behavior and anomalies of thinking and affect which resem- ble those seen in schizophrenia. The common disturbances include inappropriate or constricted affect, odd beliefs or magical thinking, odd/eccentric behavior, circumstan- tial/vague/metaphorical thinking and speech, poor rapport and paranoid ideas, obsessive ruminations, quasi-psychotic episodes and perceptual disturbances like depersonalization. ICD-10 specifies that though the symptoms resemble schiz- ophrenia, the individual must never have met the criteria for schizophrenia itself (WHO, 2002). Unlike schizophrenia, the S