Social skills training in psychiatry

Communication skills are important to overall wellbeing, for creating positive interpersonal atmosphere and for solving interpersonal problems. Many patients suffering with various psychiatric disorders suffer from either a state-dependent decrease of social skills or lifelong deficits of such skills. Patients with social skills deficits such as problems with communication with others people, social withdrawal, problems with activities of daily living should be offered to social skills training. Social skills training are set of systematic techniques and strategies useful for teaching interpersonal skills that are based in social learning theory. It is a widely used treatment of a range of psychiatric disorders that include schizophrenia, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, social phobia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dependence, sexual dysfunctions. The key elements of these interventions include behaviorally based instructions, modeling, corrective feedback, and contingent social reinforcement. Clinic-based skills training should be supplemented with practice in vivo and training in the patient ́s day-to-day environment.