Schizophrenia: Psychological Treatment Flashcards
(8 cards)
what’s CBT?
a method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. from the cognitive viewpoint, the therapy aims to deal with thinking such as challenging negative thoughts. there is also behavioural techniques.
how does CBT help treat SZ?
patients can help make sense of how their delusions and hallucinations impact their behavioru. just understanding where the symptom come from hugely helps and helps reduce anxiety. delusions can be challenged so the patients can learn that their beliefs aren’t based on reality.
what’s family therapies?
it takes place with the family, aiming to improve quality of communication and interaction between family members. most therapists are concerned with reducing stress within the family.
how can family therapies help SZ?
Pharoah identified a range of strategies to improve family functioning: improving ability to anticipate and solve problems, reduce anger and guilt, improve families beliefs about SZ. these strategies work to reduce stress and expressed emotions, increasing patient’s likelihood of complying with medication.
what’s token economy?
a reward system to manage the behaviour of patients. modifying these bad habits doesn’t cure SZ but does improve their quality of life and making them more likely to live outside hospital setting. tokens are given to patients who carry out desirable behaviours, which can be swapped for more tangible rewards such as sweets, cigarettes or magazines.
what’s evidence for effectiveness? (A03)
Pharoah reviewed the evidence for effectiveness of family therapies and found that family therapy reduces hospital readmission and improves quality of life for patients and their families. however, they noticed that different studies were inconsistent and fairly weak. evidence for token economy found only 1/3 studies showed improvement in symptoms and nonyielded useful information about behaviour change. there is modest support for effectiveness.
how does the treatment improve quality of life but doesn’t cure? (A03)
it makes patients lives more managable. CBT allows patients to challenge their symptoms. family therapy reduces stress of living with SZ in a family. token economies help makes patients behaviour more socially acceptable. none of these things cure SZ but do reduce the severity of symptoms.
what are the ethical issues? (A03)
token economy has proven to be contraversial. privileges and services become more available to patients with mild symptoms and less for those with more severe symptoms that prevent them from complying with desirable behaviours. more ill patients suffer discrimination. CBT may involve interfering with the patient’s freedom of thought.
