Family Therpay

Question 1

Aims

Answer 1

• Improve pos and decrease neg forms of communication i.e. criticism
• increase tolerance levels
• enhance relatives’ ability to anticipate and solve issues
• reduce stress of care for family members

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

• therapist has regular meetings with patient and family members and encourages openness and honesty
• fam taught to be supportive of each other and individually given roles in rehabilitation process
  ¬ emphasis on openness, with no details remaining confidential
• like CBTo its only short term (3 mnths to a yr, with at least 10 sessions)
• therapy aims to reduce levels of EE within family ass EE has been demonstrated to increase the likelihood of relapse

Question 3

Importance

Answer 3

**NICE : fam therapy should be offered to all diagnosed with sz, who are in contact/live with fam members.
- It should be a priority where there are persistent symptoms or high risk of relapse.

Question 4

Evaluation: strengths

Answer 4

Pharaoh et al: meta analysis of 53 studies from EU, Asia and USA to investigate effectiveness of family therapy
- compared outcomes of fam therapy to ‘standard’ care i.e. drugs alone. Found therapy increased patients’ compliance with medication and there was a reduction in risk of relapse and hospital admissions during treatment and a yr later.
¬ This suggests that treatment is effective in reducing relapse for a long time
—> However, critics argue findings are less to do with improvements and more with the fact that it increased medication compliance i.e. patients more likely to benefit from drugs as they’re more likely to comply with drug routine. Therefore, results may not be due to fam therapy
—-> Nonetheless.. its harmless, non-invasive and benefits the family and not just the patient. McFarlane’s study confirmed that therapy reduced relapse rates, which led to symptom reduction and improved relationships, therefore suggesting its effectiveness as treatment.

Question 5

Evaluation

Answer 5

• cost effective and economical > decreased relapse rate, lowered the need for hospitalisation, therefore releiving stress from the NHS
• Although combo of drugs and therapy is desirable, due to cost constraints, its often not possible to offer a combination
• cheaper than standard care by £1000 a patient over 3 yrs, suggesting that it can save money
  ` Futhermore, the extra cost of therapy is offset by a reduction in costs of hospitalisation due to the lower relapse rates.