CBT for Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is CBT?

Answer 1

It is a therapy that helps combine cognitive and behavourist aspects by challenging distorted thinking and training patients to use more adaptive behaviours

Question 2

What 3 underlying assumptions is CBT based on?

Answer 2

1. Patients respond to their own interpretation of life rather than what is actually the case
2. Thoughts, feelings and behaviour affect each other
3. To recover, thoughts, feelings and beliefs must be challenged

Question 3

Why is CBT sometimes used instead of drug treatment?

Answer 3

Drugs do not address all the symptoms, particularly negative symptoms and do not work for everybody

Question 4

How does CBT help with cognitive symptoms?

Answer 4

It helps regain the ability to concentrate, to understand information and to make decisions properly

Question 5

What does CBT do instead of cure the disorder?

Answer 5

It helps sufferers focus on their thinking and to understand and cope with the symptoms

Question 6

What does the CBT process involve?

Answer 6

Meeting with a therapist for one to one sessions weekly for 2-20 weeks and building a rapport in order to be educated on the disorder and to challenge unhelpful thoughts

Question 7

What is belief modification, a main focus of cbt?

Answer 7

Where delusional thinking is challenged directly and there is testing against reality

Question 8

What is focusing and reattribution, another focus of CBT?

Answer 8

It looks as auitory hallucinations to reduce the frequency of the voices and the distress they bring. They look at what the voice looks and sounds like and the patient records what is said for homework

Question 9

What is the aim of fosing and reattribution?

Answer 9

For the therapist to show that the voices are self generated

Question 10

What is normalising, a key focus of cbt?

Answer 10

De stigmatising the psychotic experience and looking at the experience rationally, relaxation techniques are also discussed and alternative explanations are offered

Question 11

What is step 1 of CBT?

Answer 11

• Agreeing on treatment goals
• Trying to normalise and de stigmatise
• Establishing a good relationship/rapport
• Understanding CBT

Question 12

What is step 2 of CBT?

Answer 12

• Teaching coping strategies for stress
• Improving daily living skills
• Exploring previous interests that could be regained
• Taught to identify stress triggers

Question 13

What is step 3 of CBT?

Answer 13

• Helping the client to identify habitual stressors
• Training on replacing automatic negative thoughts
• Hallucinations and delusions are recognised as stress responses
• Role play
• Forming a sense of self, more than just the disorder

Question 14

What is step 4 of CBT?

Answer 14

• Plans to maintain treatment gains
• Identifying early warning signs of stressors
• Agreeing on what do to in an emergancy situation
• Transition plan formed on reducing sessons

Question 15

How does Zimmerman et al (2005) support CBT?

Answer 15

It was showed that CBT can be useful alongside drug therapy in the acute phase of schizophrenia

Question 16

How does Chadwick and Lowe (1994) support the use of CBT?

Answer 16

They found that 10/12 deluded patients showed a decrease in their conviction about their beliefs and 5/12 rejected their delusions

Question 17

What is a weakness of CBT?

Answer 17

It can be distressing for the individual as they have to focus on distressing symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. They must question their own beliefs and sanity

Question 18

Aside from schizophrenia, what else does CBT help patients with?

Answer 18

Anxiety and depression surrounding the disorder

Question 19

What did Kingdon and Turkington (1991) find?

Answer 19

That 35/65 patients with schizophrenia in a 5 year follow up were free of symptoms when CBT techniques like normalising were used

Question 20

What is a strength about the fact that the patient and therapist work together?

Answer 20

The relationship is non threatening and supportive and gives power to the patient as it is not just up to a clinician to dictate their treatment

Question 21

What is an issue regarding homework?

Answer 21

If they forget or are to distressed to do so, it may disrupt the effectiveness of the program and put them off

Question 22

How does Barrowclough et al (2006) limit the support for CBT?

Answer 22

They found no significant differences between CBT and their usual treatment

Question 23

What is an issue surrounding encouraging sufferers to take part?

Answer 23

It requires acceptance of their mental illness which may be difficult for those in denial