Psychological Treatments - Family Therapy Flashcards
(7 cards)
Aims + How It Works/Helps:
- Takes place with families as well as the identified patient (one member of a dysfunctional family who expresses the family’s conflicts)
- Aims to improve quality of communication and interaction between family members
- Aims to reduce levels of EE, especially negative emotions like anger and guilt which create stress; important to reduce likelihood of relapse
Pharoah et al (2010)
- Identified a range of strategies that family therapists use to try to improve the functioning of a family that has a member with schizophrenia
- These strategies work by reducing levels of stress and EE, whilst increasing the chances of patients complying with medication – this combo of benefits tends to result in a reduced likelihood of relapse and re-admission to hospital
Pharoah’s et al (2010) - Strategies
- Reducing the stress of caring for a relative with schizophrenia
- Improving the ability of the family to anticipate and solve problems
- Forming a therapeutic alliance whereby they all agree on the aims of therapy
- Ensuring family members achieve a balance between caring for the individual and maintaining their own lives
- Reduction of anger and guilt in family members
- Improving families’ beliefs about and behaviour towards schizophrenia
Burbach et al (2018)
- Proposed a model for working with families dealing with schizophrenia
Burbach et al (2018) - Model Of Practice
- Phase 1 is sharing basic info + providing emotional and practical support
- Phase 2 involves identifying resources including what different family members can (and cannot) offer
- Phase 3 aims to encourage mutual understanding, creating a safe space for all family members to express their feelings
- Phase 4 involves identifying unhelpful patterns of interaction
- Phase 5 is about skills training such as learning stress management techniques
- Phase 6 looks at relapse prevention planning
- Phase 7 is maintenance for the future
Evaluation - Evidence for effectiveness
- A review of studies by McFarlane (2016) concluded that family therapy was one of the most consistently effective treatments available for schizophrenia, especially with relapse rates being reduced by around 50-60%
- McFarlane also concluded that using family therapy as mental health initially starts to decline is particularly promising
- Clinical advice from NICE recommends family therapy for everyone with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Family therapy is likely to be of benefit to people with both early and ‘full-blown’ schizophrenia
Evaluation - Benefits for all family members
- A review of evidence by Lobban and Barrowclough (2016) concluded that these effects are important because families provide the bulk of care for people with schizophrenia
- By strengthening the functioning of a whole family, family therapy lessens the negative impact of schizophrenia on other family members and strengthens the ability of the family to support the person with schizophrenia
- Family therapy has wide benefits beyond the obvious positive impact on the identified patient