Treatments based of family dysfunction Flashcards
What is the name of the treatment for family dysfunction ?
Family therapy
What is the aim of family therapy?
Aims to improve the quality of communication and interaction between family members.
What did Burbach come up with?
Proposed a model for working with families dealing with schizophrenia and identified 7 phases to go through in therapy
1 - Share basic info, provide emotional support
2 - Identify things family members ca and can’t offer
3 - encourage mutual understanding
4 - identify unhelpful patterns of behaviour
5 - skills training - eg stress management techniques
6 - relapse prevention planning
7 - maintenance for the future
What are some strengths of using family therapy to treat people with schizophrenia ?
P - Its effective
E - McFarlane - Found that it was effective at reducing relapse rates by 50-60%
E - This is a strength as it shows that when people put the effort in to go through family therapy then there chances of relapsing are significantly reduced. This means that they are less likely to have to carry on with other treatments after they have done this and can get back to their normal life.
L - Therefore, one strength of family therapy is that it is effective as it reduces relapse rates by 50-60% which means that the individual can continue with their life after it
H - However, studies show that it only prevents relapse in the short term rather than long term. Claxton et al found that improvements only lasted around 6 months after therapy and after that, improvement diminished dramatically
P - It takes an ideographic approach
E - It looks at the particular family’s issues and works to get to the bottom of these
E- This means that this treatment is more personal and a specific plan is created to target the family’s weak spots that may be contributing to developing Sz or relapsing. This makes it more effective as it will differ from family to family in order to fix what is broken for them.
L- Therefore, a strength of family therapy is that it takes an ideographic approach rather than a nomothetic approach meaning that it targets the individuals personal needs and aims to fix the specific issue in each family rather than being a general treatment given to everyone.
H - However, Family therapy does not treat the root cause of schizophrenia such as too much or too little dopamine. Instead it targets the patients home life with can reduce some symptoms but not cure for it.
What are some weaknesses of using family therapy as a treatment for Schizophrenia ?
P- It is a long process
E - It can last up to a year depending on the severity of the case. This means family members are likely to drop out as during the therapy they will be constantly criticised for the things they are doing which may cause conflict, causing them to drop out.
E - Similarly, as it’s such a lengthy process and requires multiple sessions it will be an expensive process.
L - The fact that its a lengthy process is a weakness as family members may drop out meaning the therapy will be ineffective and a waste of the therapist’s and the other family member’s time. It will also cost a lot of money due to how many sessions are required.
P- Ethical issues
E - It relies on informed consent however even if consent is given, the individuals may feel uncomfortable sharing personal things. For example, parents may have a fear that they will be judged and seen as being the cause of their Childs Sz.
E - This can be damaging to the parents and also to the individual with Sz as they are having to say things that their parents are doing wrong. This can lead to further conflicts.
L - Therefore, this is a weakness because it can cause psychological harm to the parents and make everyone involved feel uncomfortable and could possibly lead to further conflicts.
