Psychological Therapies: CBT, Family Therapy, Token Economy AO3

Question 1

Who conducted research to support the benefit of psychological treatments?

AO3

Answer 1

Pharoh et al

Question 2

State the findings that (modestly) support the benefit of psychological treatments.

AO3

Answer 2

• Review of CBT concluded it has a significant (but small) effect on positive & negative symptoms in Sz
• Reviewed Evidence for Family Therapy concluded that it causes a significant decrease in hospital readmissions over a year BUT problems with the quality of evidence
• Reviewed Evidence for Token Economy shows there were problems with methodology as there was a lack of random allocation

Question 3

Psychological Treatments have been found to improve quality of life, how?
What does this increase?

AO3

Answer 3

CBT helps patients make sense of and challenge their symptoms
Family Therapy decreases Expressed Emotions by helping w/ Stress levels
Token Economy helps establish socially acceptable behaviour

Increases Practical Application

Question 4

What counters the view that psychological therapies improve quality of life?

AO3

Answer 4

Improving Quality of Life shouldn’t be confused w/ curing Sz b/c they only reduce symptoms.

Failing to find a cure reduces the internal validity

Question 5

How do Psychological Therapies challenge ethics?

AO3

Answer 5

Token Economy neglects those who suffer from severe symptoms that prevent them from complying with desirable behaviours - so they suffer discrimination.
CBT could interfere with freedom of thought by challenging a person’s paranoia.

Question 6

What is an alternative psychological therapy for Sz? How does it help?

AO3

Answer 6

Art Therapy (Recommended by NICE)
Allows for the expression of feelings through different media, benefitting those who have trouble with communication.
It is an engagement programme that can deal with symptoms like isolation and social withdrawal .