Background: Patient centered care requires physicians to accommodate views and needs of patients, but to date there has been little evidence as to the degree of concordance between patients and physicians in terms of their treatment goals and its achievement. OBJECTIVES: To identify, value and compare the treatment goals of patients and physicians for the treatment of schizophrenia, and to measure self reported and physician performance of patients with respect to these goals. METHODS: A mixed methods approach was taken combining qualitative and quantitative data. First, 20 relevant treatment goals were identified through patient focus groups (n=30) and literature. A survey was then developed to rank the goals and to rate its importance using 5-point Likert scales. Finally degree of achievement was assessed. The survey was administered to both patients (n=105) and physicians (n=160) by trained field workers. Data was analyzed using means and t-tests as appropriate. RESULTS: We found that the three most important goals for patients were: reduction of anxiety (80.5), improvement of cognitive abilities (79.25), and reduced feelings of depression (79). Physicians rated: reduction of symptoms (82.25), increase of self-confidence (80.75), and improvement of cognitive abilities (80.5) as having the highest importance. When asked to rate the performance of patients with respect to these goals, we found that physicians continuously judged more critical than patients. Significant differences were found for improvement of cognitive abilities (p <0.05), increase of independence (p <0.05), decrease lack of emotion (p <0.05), increase of overall-satisfaction (p <0.05), improved ability to express oneself (p <0.05), and recreation of social contacts (p <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that schizophrenic patients and physicians value treatment goals and their achievement relative discordant. As schizophrenic patients are capable to state their requirements, this should be considered in treatment decisions to improve treatment outcomes.