Psychological treatment of schizophrenia Flashcards
What is the typical duration of CBT for schizophrenia?
CBT for schizophrenia typically lasts between 5 to 20 sessions and can take place either in a group or as an individual therapy. Sessions are usually held weekly or fortnightly.
What is the main goal of CBT in treating schizophrenia?
The main goal of CBT is to help patients identify irrational thoughts and challenge them. It aims to make patients better at coping with their symptoms rather than eliminating them.
How does CBT help patients with delusions and hallucinations?
CBT helps patients understand how their delusions and hallucinations affect their feelings and behaviour. It offers psychological explanations for these symptoms, reducing anxiety, and challenges delusions by encouraging patients to question their beliefs.
How does the therapist use evidence in CBT to help patients?
The therapist helps the patient identify irrational delusional beliefs and asks for evidence to challenge them. This can involve hypothesis testing - creating a prediction based on the patients beliefs, and scientifically testing this prediction via evidence collection.
What role does behavioural homework assignments play in CBT for schizophrenia?
Behavioural homework assignments in CBT help patients improve their general functioning and address negative symptoms. For example, patients might be asked to initiate social contact or engage in activities to improve their mood and behaviour.
How does Family Therapy treat schizophrenia?
Family therapy aims to reduce stress, improve communication, and reduce expressed emotion (EE) within the family. It focuses on supporting the family and helping them manage the patient’s symptoms while improving family dynamics and reducing conflict.
What strategies are used in family therapy according to Pharoah et al. (2010)?
The strategies include forming a therapeutic alliance with family members, reducing stress for caregivers, improving problem-solving abilities, reducing guilt and anger, and balancing caregiving with maintaining family members’ own lives.
How does family therapy help reduce relapse in schizophrenia?
Family therapy helps reduce relapse by decreasing stress and levels of expressed emotion (EE), which are linked to increased risk of relapse. It also improves medication compliance, which further reduces the chances of relapse.
How does token economy help manage schizophrenia?
A token economy is a behavioural therapy where patients are rewarded with tokens for displaying desirable behaviours, such as getting dressed or making their bed. These tokens can later be exchanged for rewards like sweets, cigarettes, or privileges. Token economies are used to manage maladaptive behaviors in patients, particularly those who have developed negative behaviors through long-term stays in psychiatric hospitals. They help patients learn appropriate behaviors, facilitating their reintegration into society.
How does operant conditioning relate to token economies in schizophrenia treatment?
Token economies are based on operant conditioning, where desirable behaviours are positively reinforced with tokens (secondary reinforcers). The tokens gain value once patients learn that they lead to rewards, encouraging adaptive behaviours.
What types of rewards can tokens be exchanged for in a token economy?
Tokens can be exchanged for rewards such as sweets, cigarettes, privileges like time outside the hospital, or services like cleaning the patient’s room.
What is a strength of CBT? (Research support)
Jauhar et al. (2014) concluded that CBT has a significant but fairly small effect on both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, suggesting it is effective at treating schizophrenia.
What is a strength of Family therapy? (Research support)
Pharoah et al. (2010) concluded that there is moderate evidence showing that family therapy significantly reduces hospital readmission and improves quality of life for patients and their families, suggesting it is effective at treating schizophrenia.
What is a strength of psychological treatments like CBT and family therapy?
CBT helps patients challenge and make sense of their symptoms, while family therapy reduces stress within the family, improving both the patient’s and their family’s quality of life.
What is a weakness of CBT? (Mixed evidence)
Lynch et al. (2009) concluded that CBT is no better than a placebo in treating schizophrenia, suggesting it has no value.
What ethical concerns are associated with CBT in treating schizophrenia?
CBT may challenge a person’s paranoia, and in doing so, it could interfere with a person’s freedom of thought. This raises ethical concerns, especially if CBT targets beliefs that are not pathological, such as political beliefs.
What are the ethical concerns related to token economies in treating schizophrenia?
Token economies may discriminate against patients with more severe symptoms, as these patients are less able to comply with desirable behaviours, thus receiving fewer privileges. This could be seen as unethical treatment of severely ill patients.
What is a strength of token economy (Research support)
Glowacki et al. (2016) found that all seven high-quality studies they reviewed demonstrated a reduction in negative symptoms for patients with chronic mental health issues like schizophrenia.
