Psychological Therapies

Question 1

What is CBT?

Answer 1

• challenge irrational thoughts
• teach patients to cope better with symptoms (hallucinations and delusions)
• reduce anxiety

Question 2

What is family therapy?

Answer 2

• work with patient and family to improve communication (double bind) and reduce expressed emotion
• Pharaoh = identified various aims (like therapeutic alliance and reducing stress of caring)

Question 3

What are token economies?

Answer 3

• system of rewards to reinforce socially normal behaviour to help patent re-intergrate into society
• token given immediately and exchanged for reward

Question 4

+ evidence for effectiveness

Answer 4

studies of CBT (Jauhar), Family therapy (Pharaoh) and token economy (McMonagle):
- show modest evidence for benefits of psychological therapies

Question 5

+/- therapies improve quality of life but aren’t a cure

Answer 5

• no therapy cures schizophrenia but they can help patients cope and avoid relapse
• each therapy does this differently but none make it go away

Question 6

• Ethical Issues

Answer 6

• token economy deprives worst affected people fo small pleasures, making quality of life worse in shirt term
• CBT challenges patients beliefs that might be part of their core identity