Family therapy (psychological treatment) Flashcards
What is family therapy?
family dysfunction can cause stress and a child to doubt their own judgement which leads to schizophrenic symptoms
family therapy aims to improve communication within the household
this should then help reduce stress and therefore symptom severity
How does family therapy work?
Pharoah (2010) identified strategies that family therapists use to try and improve the functioning of a family that has a member with Sz
1. Reduce negative emotions: mainly EE
2. Improves family’s ability to help
How does reducing negative emotions (especially EE) help?
Emotional levels decrease but more so negative emotions such as anger guilt which could create stress
This will reduce the likelihood of a relapse
Why does the family’s ability to help need to be improved?
The therapist encourages family members to form therapeutic alliance whereby they all agree on the aims of therapy
The therapist also tries to improve the family’s belief about and behaviour towards Sz
A further aim is to ensure that family members achieve balance between caring for the individual with Sz and maintaining their own lives
What did Burbach (2018) propose?
A model for working families dealing with Sz
What are the 7 steps Burbach introduced?
- Sharing basic info and providing emotional and practical support
- Identifying resources, including what different family members cannot offer
- Encourages mutual understandings and creating a safe space for all to express their feelings
- Identifying unhelpful patterns of recognition
- Skills training such as learning stress management techniques
- Relapse prevention planning
- Maintenance for the future
What is the impact of family therapy?
Development of these skills should help to reduce levels of EE and therefore stress
Help to stop a patient relapsing
Better understanding of Sz should also encourage a more therapeutic relationship
