Psychological Therapy: Familiy Therapy Flashcards
Family based therapy is based on the idea that living with s family whose communication is dysfunctional can make a schizophrenia patient worse/cause relapse
Aids to change the way family members interact and improve their communication skills
Specifically to reduce the level of expressed emotion
Involves critisim, hostility and emotional over involvement.
Linked because EE causes stress and can trigger relapse
If EE reduced, less likely to relapse
Patient and thier family attend formal group sessions with a therapist
Usually parents bug could be siblings, partner or significant friends
Before starting group sessions with patient, family members separately attend a psycho education workshop
They are taught about the biological nature of schizophrenia by mental health professionals and any negative or false beliefs they have about the disorder are challenged
Myth that “parents are to blame” needs to be challenged
Incorrect as it is largely biological, reduces feelings of guilt that could cause stress and worsen patients condition
Usually at least 10 formal group sessions required over 12 months
Some things discussed include
Recent symptoms/behaviot and impact on family as well as any progress
Family members are taught
Coping strategies
How ti help patient take their antipsychotic medication
How to identify signs of relapse
To help the patient manage their symptoms
Communication skills
To aid communication with a schizpatient families may be taught
How to reduce over involvement through listening skills
How to respond to delusions/hallucinations
Not to encourage buy not to be critical or hostile
Supporting evidence for its benefits for the patient from Pharoah meta analysis of 53 studies
Investigating the effectiveness of family therapy compared to treatment with antipsychotic medication alone. Family therapy was superior in terms of
Improving compliance
Reducing relapse/hospital admission in 24 months after treatment
Supports the effectiveness showing that FT patients likely to remain symptom free for longer compared to those on medication alone
Supporting evidence for how it benefits the family from Lobban meta analysis of 50 studies
Investigating family therapy found that 60% showed it had a significant positive impact on coping and problem solving skills
Family functioning and relationship quality
Levels of expressed emotion
Wider benefits beyond simply treating symptoms and likely to be more helpful kn the long term management of schiz
The evidence for it’s benefits is mixed
Pharoah
Found some evidence not superior to antipsychotic medication alone in terms of
Social functioning (living individually and employment)
Mental state (some studied showed medication improved mental state more than family therapy)
Given the additional effort and time required in FT, medication alone may be more beneficial for some patients
Effectiveness is also flawed
Meta analysis may not be methodologically sound
Pharaohs many studies conducted in republic of china although claims of random allocations may have no been according to Wu et al
10 included studies reported they had not used double blind, observer bias could have influenced ratings of improvement
Could explain why not all studies showed FT to be superior, benefits over medication may have been exaggerated
Effectiveness is also flawed
Meta analysis may not be methodologically sound
Pharaohs many studies conducted in republic of china although claims of random allocations may have no been according to Wu et al
10 included studies reported they had not used double blind, observer bias could have influenced ratings of improvement
Could explain why not all studies showed FT to be superior, benefits over medication may have been exaggerated
