Family therapy

• Outline family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia.

  Family therapy begins with the therapist guiding the schizophrenic patient and their family to communicate with one another regarding their emotions, needs etc.

  This aims to improve the quality of their communication to reduce double-bind communication and high levels of expressed emotion.
• Outline family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia.

  The therapist then helps the patient and their family members to form therapeutic alliances i.e. they discuss how they will support/be supported when caring for the patient.

  This aims to reduce stress and high levels of expressed emotion to reduce the risk of the patient relapsing.
• Outline family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia.

  Finally, the therapist helps the family to strike a balance between caring for their schizophrenic relative as well as maintaining their own lives.

  This ensures the relatives’ caring responsibilities do not consume their lives, resulting in them being less critical and hostile towards the patient (which could lead to them relapsing).
• Evaluate family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia: supporting evidence.


  E.g. Research comparing the effectiveness of psychological treatments for schizophrenia found that family therapy had the lowest rates of relapse, the lowest number of hospital admissions and the highest number of people who complied with their medication regime. This is a strength because it suggests that family therapy helps to equip the family with long-term strategies on how to support the patient.
• Evaluate family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia: alternative psychological therapies such as CBT. 


  This is because CBT involves working solely with the schizophrenic patient while family therapy works with the patient and their family members. This is a strength because the schizophrenic patient may lack logical thought (due to their delusions) or the ability to produce speech (due to speech poverty) and so family members can help communicate on their behalf as well as offering their own, potentially more logical, perspective.
• Evaluate family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia: costly treatment programme. 


  This is because it requires trained professionals to have individual sessions with each of their patients and their families. This is a limitation because it means it may not be readily available on the NHS which tends to be underfunded and have long waiting lists. Therefore questions credibility.
• Evaluate family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia: cost-effective in the long term. 


  This is because it provides family members with long-term strategies on how to support the patient and this leads to lower hospital admissions and relapse. This is a strength because it would decrease the need for extra costs and time going into supporting the patient getting better again.
• Evaluate family therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia: may not be appropriate for all patients.


  E.g. those who may not have families that can or are willing to support in their care will not benefit from this therapy. This is a limitation because it means other therapies such as CBT may be more appropriate as it involves working solely with the patient without needing the involvement of their family members.