Objective To explore the effect of group psychodrama therapy on depression,self-esteem and coping ability in perimenopausal patients with schizophrenia.Methods Sixty perimeno-pausal patients with schizophrenia and depression were randomly divided into study group and control group,with 30 cases in each group.Patients in both groups received conventional psychiatric treat-ment,nursing and health education,while the study group was additionally treated with group psycho-drama therapy.Patients were assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD),Rosen-berg Self-esteem Scale(SES),Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20),Positive Coping(PC)scale,Negative Coping(NC)scale,and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS)at the time points of before treatment,3 weeks after treatment,and 6 months after treatment.Results The interaction effects of group and time point were significant for HAMD,SES,PANSS,PC and NC scores(P＜0.05),and the main effects of group and time point were both significant for PANSS and PC(P＜0.05).In the study group,HAMD,NC,and PANSS scores significantly decreased,while PC and SES scores increased significantly from pre-treatment to 3 weeks and 6 months after treatment(P＜0.05).The PANSS score in the study group was significantly higher at 6 months after treatment com-pared to 3 weeks after treatment(P＜0.05).There were significant differences in PANSS and PC scores between the two groups(P＜0.01).Conclusion Group psychodrama therapy can effectively alleviate depressive symptoms and psychiatric symptoms,improve self-esteem and positive coping a-bility,and enhance social functioning in perimenopausal patients with schizophrenia.