Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of psychological intervention on first episode schizophrenia in quality of life and social function.Methods 120 inpatients with first episode schizophrenia were randomly divided into the observed group (60 cases) in which patients were treated with risperidone plus psychological intervention and the control group (60 cases) in which patients were treated with risperidone only. All patients had been treated for 8 weeks and followed up for 6 months after discharge. The assessments included the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale(PANSS), WHO, QOL-100 and Social Disability Screening Schedule(SDSS) before the treatment and at the end of the follow-up.Results The scores of PANSS, SDSS and QOL-100 in both groups did not show significant difference before the treatment(P>0.05). At the end of follow-up, the total score, negative score and positive score of PANSS in the observed group were lower than that in the control group(P<0.01), while the total score of QOL-100, areas of mentality, dependence, social relation factor scores and the scores of SDSS in the observed group were higher than that in the control group(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion Psychological intervention can help to improve the symptom of first episode schizophrenia and enhance their quality of life and social function.

Key words: psychological intervention, schizophrenia, quality of life, social function