Sc - Family therapy Flashcards
Family therapy
The name given to a range of interventions aimed at the family (e.g. parents, siblings, partners) of someone with a mental disorder.
What is the main aim of family therapy?
To provide support for carers in an attempt to make family life less stressful and so reduce re-hospitalisation.
How does family therapy work?
By reducing levels of expressed emotion and stress, and by increasing the capacity of relatives to solve related problems, family therapy attempts to reduce the incidence of relapse for the person with SZ.
What are the strategies used in family therapy?
Psychoeducation - helping the person and their carers to understand and be better able to deal with the illness.
Forming an alliance with relatives who care for the person with SZ.
Reducing the emotional climate within the family and the burden of care for family members.
Enhancing relatives’ abilities to anticipate and solve problems.
Reducing expressions of anger and guilt by family members.
Maintaining reasonable expectations among family members for patient performance.
Encouraging relatives to set appropriate limits whilst maintaining some degree of separation when needed.
What is family therapy often used in conjunction with?
Routine drug treatment and outpatient clinical care.
What is the patient encouraged to do during family therapy sessions?
Encouraged to talk to their family and explain what sort of support they find helpful - and what makes things worse for them.
What do NICE recommend that family therapy should be offered to?
‘All individuals diagnosed with SZ who are in contact with or live with family members’.
When do NICE stress that family therapy interventions should be considered a priority?
Where there are persistent symptoms or a high risk of relapse.
For what period of time is family therapy offered?
Between 3 and 12 months and at least 10 sessions.
What are family-based interventions aimed at?
Reducing the level of expressed emotion within the family, as EE has been demonstrated to increase the likelihood of relapse.
What is the relapse rate estimated at for individuals who receive family therapy as compared to those who receive standard care alone?
Garety et al. (2008) estimate the relapse rate for those that receive it to be 25% compared to 50% for those who don’t.
What does family therapy typically involve?
Providing family members with information about SZ, finding ways of supporting an individual with SZ and resolving any practical problems. It should also involve the person with psychosis or SZ if practical.
What is a characteristic of psychoses such as SZ to do with treatment?
These individuals are often suspicious about their treatment.
How could the issue surrounding individuals experiences psychosis often being suspicious about their treatment be overcome?
By involving the individual more actively in their treatment.
What does family therapy improve?
Relationships within the household.