Psychosocial Treatments for Schizophrenia Flashcards
What is the focus of the article?
The importance of psychosocial interventions for individuals with schizophrenia.
What are some domains of treatment discussed in the article?
Cognitive behavior therapy, social skills training, family interventions, supported employment, and cognitive remediation.
What percentage of individuals achieve remission from positive psychotic symptoms after the first episode?
75% to 90% achieve remission one year after treatment.
What are some limitations of pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia?
Low medication compliance, slow responders, limited medication effects, and high relapse rates after the first year.
What is functional recovery in schizophrenia?
Social relationships and the ability to socialize, make friends, finish school, or attend work.
Why are psychosocial interventions important?
They complement pharmacotherapy by addressing functional recovery and improving overall outcomes.
What are the goals of psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia?
Enhance both symptomatic and functional recovery, address social isolation, depression, self-harm risk, and persistent symptoms.
Why is early intervention with psychosocial treatments crucial?
To address persistent symptoms and disrupted developmental trajectory, especially in young individuals experiencing their first episode.
What are some major psychosocial interventions available?
CBT, social skills training (SST), family interventions, cognitive remediation, and supported employment.
What is CBT used for in schizophrenia?
To target positive symptoms like delusions and hallucinations through cognitive restructuring strategies.
How does CBT conceptualize symptoms?
Within a stress-diathesis framework, considering biological and environmental stress factors.
What are the effects of CBT in schizophrenia according to research?
Moderate effect sizes on symptom reduction, relapse prevention, and improvement in functional capacity.
What are some key components of the modular approach to CBT for first-episode psychosis?
Engagement, education, adaptation, coping strategies, relapse prevention, and symptom reduction.
What is social skills training (SST) designed to address?
Deficits in social skills, which are a significant characteristic of schizophrenia.
What are the core elements of SST?
Receiving skills (social perception), processing skills (social cognition), and behavioral responding (expression).
What methods are used in SST?
Goal setting, modeling, role-playing, positive reinforcement, corrective feedback, and homework assignments.
What outcomes does SST improve?
Skill acquisition, assertiveness, social interaction, and reductions in general psychopathology.
How does SST fit into the stress-vulnerability model of schizophrenia?
It increases coping skills and social support to reduce the impact of stress on psychotic symptoms.
What is the role of family interventions in schizophrenia treatment?
To reduce relapse and hospital readmissions, decrease family distress, and improve patient outcomes.
What are key elements of effective family interventions?
Illness education, crisis intervention, emotional support, and training in coping with symptoms.
Why is early intervention with families beneficial?
It maximizes adaptive functioning, minimizes family disruption, and reduces long-term stress and burden.
What is motivational interviewing and how is it used with family interventions?
A technique to increase motivation for change, used in conjunction with CBT to address substance abuse in schizophrenia.
What is supported employment and why is it important?
A vocational rehabilitation approach that helps individuals with schizophrenia secure and maintain employment.
What are the six principles of supported employment?
Consumer choice, integration with treatment, competitive employment goal, immediate job search, continuous support, and consumer preferences.
What are the benefits of supported employment?
Improves employment outcomes, enhances social and economic functioning, and supports vocational goals.
What is cognitive remediation and what does it target?
A set of training interventions aimed at improving cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, such as attention, memory, and psychomotor speed.
What are the two main approaches to cognitive remediation?
Cognition-enhancing approaches and compensatory approaches.
How does cognitive remediation impact functional outcomes?
Improves cognitive function but requires adjunctive rehabilitation to significantly enhance social functioning.
What are the overall findings of the article regarding psychosocial treatments?
They enhance functioning beyond medication alone and should be integrated early in schizophrenia treatment.
What future research directions are suggested?
Assessing treatments in early schizophrenia, combining interventions, and identifying which treatments work best for different individuals.
