Psychological Therapies for Schizophrenia Flashcards
What is family therapy?
a form of therapy carried out with members of the family with the aim of improving their communication and reducing the stress of living as a family.
What are the aims of family therapy?
to reduce levels of expressed emotion, and reduced the likelihood of relapse
What examples did Pharoah identify of how family therapy works?
- It helps family members achieve a balance between caring for the individual and maintaining their own lives
- it reduces anger and guilt
- it improves their ability to anticipate and solve problems and forms a therapeutic alliance
What are families taught to do during family therapy?
- to have weekly family meetings solving problems on family and individual goals
- resolve conflict between members
- pinpoint stressors
How are preliminary analysis completed?
Through interviews and observation the therapist identifies strengths and weaknesses of family members and identifies problem behaviors.
What are information transfers?
teaching the patient and the family the actual facts about the illness, it’s causes, the influence of drug abuse, and the effect of stress and guilt
What does communication skills training involve?
- teach family to listen, to express emotions and to discuss things
- Additional communication skills are taught, such as “compromise and negotiation,” and “requesting a time out”
What did a study by Anderson et al. (1991_ find about family therapy?
relapse rate of almost 40% when patients had drugs only, compared to only 20 % when Family Therapy or Social Skills training were used and the relapse rate was less than 5% when both were used together with the medication.
What did Paraoh et al. 2003 find in his meta-analysis of family therapy?
family interventions help the patient to understand their illness and to live with it, developing emotional strength and coping skills, thus reducing rates of relapse
What are the economic benefits if family therapy?
- Family therapy is highly cost effective because it reduces relapse rates, so the patients are less likely to take up hospital beds and resources
What did the NICE review of family therapy studies demonstrate?
that it was associated with significant cost savings when offered to patients alongside the standard care – Relapse rates are also lower which suggests the savings could be even higher
What do token economies aim to do?
manage schizophrenia rather than treat it
What is the token economy?
a form of behavioral therapy where desirable behaviors are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement and is based on operant conditioning
What happens when a desired behaviour is displayed?
tokens (in the form of coloured discs) are given immediately as secondary reinforcers which can be exchanged for rewards
How does the token economy manage schizophrenia?
it maintains desirable behavior and no longer reinforces undesirable behavior
