AO3

• A weakness of token economies is the treatment for schizophrenia is that it is argued to help make sense of the symptoms but does not cure them. Token economies may improve quality of life but does not cure schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a biological condition, so token economies should be used to improve the ability to live with schizophrenia. However, Grawecki et al. showed studies that reduced the negative symptoms so it may well be that they can be a partial cure for schizophrenia and would work well with biological treatments.
• A strength of token economies is that there is research to support its effectiveness in treating schizophrenia. Glausaki et al. identified seven high-quality studies in 1999 to 2013 on the effectiveness of token economies in hospital settings. All showed a reduction in negative symptoms and a decline in frequency of unwanted behaviours. This supports the value of token economies in managing schizophrenia. However, there was a small evidence base and may result in the file drawer problem where there is a bias towards publishing positive findings.
• One weakness of token economies as a treatment for schizophrenia is that it raises ethical issues. Professionals have the power to control people's behavior and this means imposing one person's norms onto another. For example, a patient may like to look scruffy. This restricts the availability of pleasures to people who do not behave as desired, meaning very ill people experiencing bad symptoms have an even worse time. This means that benefits of talking economies may be outweighed to the impact on freedom and short-term reduction in quality of life.
• One weakness of psychological therapies as a treatment for schizophrenia is that they are reductionist. They only focus on the psychological explanation and not biological. You are aware that biological treatment works, such as chlorpromazine, risperidone and clozapine. They may work better paired. Shown by Tarrier et al.