key question - sz

Question 1

what is the key question

Answer 1

how effective are the current clinical treatments for treating schizophrenia

Question 2

What do you need to write for AO1 (describe the issue)

Answer 2

what is sz?
what are the symptoms of sz that psychologists aim to treat?
what are the two currently available treatments and briefly outline these?
why is this an important question to answer, how widely are these treatments costs, and what are the current costs for treating people with sz?
who benefits if treatments are successful and who is at risk if they are ineffective?
what are implications for the future if they are found to be ineffective?

Question 3

what is sz

Answer 3

a psychotic disorder where a person may hear, see or believe things that are not real

and is characterised by positive and negative symptoms

Question 4

what are the symptoms of sz that psychologists aim to treat

Answer 4

positive, negative and cognitive

Question 5

what are the two currently available treatments and briefly outline them

Answer 5

ACT
- helps with independance, rehabilitation and recovery
- used by community mental health services and clients who have trouble meeting personal goals

Antipsychotics
- used to restore the balance of neurotransmitters in a patients body
- works by blocking receptors at neurons throughout the body

Question 6

why is this an important question to answer? how widely are these treatments used? what are the current costs for treating sz?

Answer 6

Antipsychotic drugs are widely used although they don’t work for everyone

Guo et al. found that just under 50% of patients stop drug use

sz has a serious effect on the patients mental health (high suicide rates) and treatments are important for those with sz who want to lead functional lives

Question 7

who benefits if treatments are successful? who is at risk if they are ineffective?

Answer 7

patients benefit the most followed by their family and caregivers and then the community.

NHS wouldn’t have so much of a burden placed on it.

if treatments are ineffective, more of a strain is placed on patients, hospitalisations and cost.

Question 8

what are the implications for the future if they are found to be ineffective?

Answer 8

there should be more research into alternate therapies

non-biological treatments may be preferable.

Question 9

What do you need to write for AO2?

Answer 9

Drug therapy and how it works

ACT and how it works

Question 10

Drug therapy AO2

Answer 10

Drug therapy
- write about FGA’s and SGA’s and how they both work in relation to the dopamine hypothesis (separate paragraph)

for each paragraph:
- say what NT’s each type targets
- what symptoms they target
- examples
- relate to the dopamine hypothesis

Question 11

Assertive Community Therapy AO2

Answer 11

ACT
- type of treatment (holistic)
- what the therapy involves
- main characteristics of the treatment

Question 12

What to write for AO3 ( evaluate the issue)

Answer 12

for both drug treatment and ACT

• evidence for it being an effective treatment
• compliment/ criticism for the evidence
  -evidence against it being an effective treatment

Drug Therapy only -
- issue with drug therapy only masking symptoms
-what does Carlsson suggest needs to be done to improve drug treatments

ACT only -
- strength of it being an individualised therapy
- weakness - staffing, time and cost

Question 13

Conclusion

Answer 13

why might ACT be a more effective treatment
consider that ACT is used alongside additional therapies

Drug therapy has less practical issues than ACT