S5. Psychological Therapies

Question 1

Types of Psychological Therapies

Answer 1

CBT, Family Therapy, Token Economy

Question 2

CBT

Answer 2

• emphasises importance of understanding
• patients find comfort, especially in understanding delusions or hallucinations
• reassurance they aren’t ‘crazy’
• reality of beliefs challenged; consider more reasonable alternatives
• e.g. man paranoid about being hunted by Mafia, because someone looked at him for ‘too long.’However, other person may have just been lost in thought

Question 3

Family Therapies

Answer 3

• aim to reduce stress of family living together with a schizophrenic mother
• improve family beliefs toward schizophrenia: increase self efficacy, reduce stress, look for signs preceding schizophrenic episode
• reducing stress subsequently reduces SZ suffered stress; therefore reducing episode likelihood

Question 4

Token Economy Systems

Answer 4

• good behaviour rewarded with token (secondary reinforcer) which is exchanged for a privilege (primary reinforcer)
• patients motivated to continue good behaviours through reward
• rewards: extra TV time, extra yard time, read favourite magazines

Question 5

• Eval: Therapies don’t ‘cure’ SZ

Answer 5

• only make symptoms more manageable
• Interactionist Approach best: Biological to treat distal cause, psychological to treat proximal cause

Question 6

• Eval: Token Economy Ethical Issues

Answer 6

• ‘privileges’ are actually rights
• preventing patients calling home or exercising may aggravate symptoms (raised stress)
• in addition, patients with severe SZ may find compliance near impossible

Question 7

• Eval: CBT Ethical Issues

Answer 7

• therapist has control over patients views = potential misconduct
• e.g. ‘Mafia isn’t real’ idea instead interpreted as a ‘controlling government’; therapy intruding/alternating on patients own beliefs
• may not always be beneficial