Key Question

Question 1

Identify your key question for clinical psychology

Answer 1

How effective are clinical treatments for mental illness?

Question 2

Describe the key issue

Answer 2

-schizophrenia is a severe psychotic disorder characterised by positive symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking, as well as negative symptoms such as social withdrawal, poverty of speech or apathy.
-current treatments for sz include the use of antipsychotics which target neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and glutamate
-Assertive community therapy is aimed at supporting patients within their community and removing some of the social stressors that may cause relapse
-sz is more prevalent in urban areas and amongst immigrants which can not be explained by the dopamine hypothesis meaning that there are environmental causes which also need to be addressed in treatment
-from a cost point of view drug treatment within the community is significantly cheaper than hospitalisations and ACT is not more expensive but has a better outcome
-drug treatment costs the NHS 11.8 million each year, or £23,000 for each patient each year
-if treatment is unsuccessful it’ll create a bigger burden on the already over-stretched NHS as people with the illness will have to be institutionalised
-successful treatment however will result in people diagnosed with schizophrenia being able to hold down employment of some kind, contribute to the economy and be productive members of society

Question 3

Using concepts from clinical psychology, explain the key issue (up to 6 marks)

Answer 3

1) first generation antipsychotics include chlorpromazine, and are dopamine antagonists in that they reduce the amount of dopamine by blocking the dopamine receptors, and in turn reduce the characteristic positive symptoms such as hallucinations

2) second generation antipsychotics include clozapine and don’t just target dopamine like FGAs but also serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Rather than permanently blocking the receptors they temporarily bind to them then disappear which allows dopamine levels to return to normal. These tend to have less side effects then FGAs

3) ACT is based on the premise that environmental stressors play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder and that successful treatment also needs to address non-biological factors