Psychological Treatment

Question 1

CBT

Answer 1

-aims to challenge irrational thoughts
-questioning the validity of the beliefs

-discussion of how likely the beliefs are to be true and consider other less threatening possibilities- better cope with symptoms- doesn’t get rid of them

-offering psychological explanations for postive symptoms (hallucinations and delusions)
-reduces anxiety

Question 2

Family Therapy

Answer 2

-takes place with families, rather than indiviudual clients
-aim to improvr quality of communication and interaction between family members

Using doubke-bind and schizophrenagenic mother- family= root cause

Most therapies= concerned with decreasing stress in family that may contribute to relapse- Decrease EE

Pharoah et al (2010)- range of strategies to improve family functioning.
Theraputic alliance, increase ability of family to anticipate and solve problems, improve families beliefs of SZ

Question 3

Token Economies

Answer 3

-reward system used to manage the behaviour of people with SZ

-based on Operant Conditioning

-Ppt may have bad hygiene- modifying these bad habits does not cure SZ, but improves quality of life and makes it more likely for them to live outside a hospital

-Tokens= exchanged for rewards- REINFORCEMENT
Secondary Reinforcers- exchanged once for materials

Question 4

A03- Psychological Therapies
(Effectiveness)

Answer 4

Pharoah et al- reviewed evidence for effectiveness of family therapy
-significantly reduces hospital readmissions over the course of a year and increase QOL
- variation in quality of research and inconsistent studies= evidence base- relatively weak

Review of Token Economies
- Only 1/3 of studies showed improvement in symptoms and none yielded useful info about behavioural change

MIXED EVIDENCE BASE

Question 5

A03- Psychological Therapies
(QOL not cure)

Answer 5

-treatments aim to increase QOL and make SZ more manageable
-CBT allows them to make sense of and challenge symptoms
-Family Therapy decreased stress of living with SZ for affected person and family
-Token Economies make individuals behaviour more socially acceptable so they can re-intergrate into society

-Worth doing but should not be confused with CURING
-Bio treatments don’t cure either, but reduce severity of symptoms

Question 6

A03- Psychological Therapies
(Ethical Issues)

Answer 6

-Token Economies= Contraversial

-Priviledges and Services= more avaliable to paitents with mild symptoms and less so for more severe symptoms of SZ that prevent them complying with desirable behaviours

-Most severely ill paitents suffer discrimination in addition to other symptoms
-legality-questioned
-decreased use of token economies in psychatrtic system