Objective To explore the effect of the expressive psychotherapy on the feeling of inadequacy and loneliness of inpatients with chronic schizophrenia.MethodsTotally 120 chronic schizophrenia inpatients met recruited criteria were randomly divided into study group(n=60) and control group(n=60) according to random number table.57 patients in each group finished all the follow-ups finally.The patients in two groups were received normal medications while the patients in intervention group also attended expressive psychotherapy.All the patients were assessed at baseline,6 weeks and 12 weeks of treatment with the feeling of inadequacy scale (FIS) and the status and trait loneliness scale (STLS).Results(1) The FIS score(F=225.19,P<0.01),STLS total score(F=225.20,P<0.01),STLS status score(F=240.40,P<0.01) and STLS trait score(F=106.75,P<0.01) decreased significantly in both groups after intervention.(2) The FIS score of study group was much lower than those of control group at the at 6-week-follow-up(4.93±20.86,57.89±20.48,t=-2.250,P<0.01) and 12-week-follow-up(38.43±17.50,57.21±22.98,t=-4.900,P<0.01).(3) After 6 weeks treatment and 12 weeks treatment,STLS total score(6 weeks:(54.32±12.30) vs (68.46±15.53),t=-5.425,P<0.01,12 weeks:(44.16±10.81) vs (65.75±16.26),t=-8.386,P<0.01),STLS status score (6 weeks:(25.95±6.41) vs (34.31±7.91),t=-6.239,P<0.01,12 weeks:(19.15±5.49) vs (32.58±8.45),t=-10.103,P<0.01) and STLS trait score (6 weeks:(28.37±6.73) vs (34.15±8.45),t=-4.138,P<0.01,12 weeks:(25.00±6.18) vs (33.15±8.22),t=-6.019,P<0.01) in study group were lower than those in control group,and the difference was statistically significant.ConclusionExpressive psychotherapy can effectively improve the loneliness and inadequacy of patients with chronic schizophrenia.