A01- Psychological Therapies

• Cognitive behaviour therapy

  Most commonly used to treat schiz. 5-20 sessions of this. Tries to identify irrational thought and change them. Helps to make sense of delusions and hallucinations to reduce anxiety. Does not abolish symptoms but makes patient better able to cope with them.
• How CBT helps

  Helps patient to make sense of how their delusions and hallucinations impact their feelings and behaviours. Understanding where symptoms come from can help people and reduced anxiety. Delusions can be challenged to show they're irrational.
• Case example

  Turkington describes an example of when CBT was used to challenge a patient's delusion. Patient thinks the 'mafia' is observing him to which the therapist says, ' It's a possibility but there could be other explanations, how do you know it's the mafia?
• Family therapy


  Attempts to improve communication and interaction between family members. Range of approaches used. Due to double bind and schizophrenogenic mother, some therapists see the family as the root of the issue.
• Aims of family therapy


  Therapists aimt to reduce stress that may contribute to a person's risk of relapse amd aims to reduce levels of expressed emotion.
• How family therapy helps

  Pharoah et al identified a range of strategies to improve functioning of a family member who is experiencing schizophrenia. A combination of these strategies and medication highly reduce likelihood of relapse and re-admission.
• Pharoah's strategies


  Forming a therapeutic alliance with family member, reducing stress for relative, reducing anger and guilt in family member, improving ability to anticipate and solve problems, balance of life.
• Token economies


  Rewards systems used to manage behaviour of those with schiz, who have developed patterns of maladaptive behaviour through spending long periods in psychiatric hospitals.
• Rewards


  Tokens such as coloured disks given to patients once they have carried out desirable behaviour that has been targeted for reinforcement. These tokens can be exchanged for rewards for encouragement.
• Secondary reinforcers

  Operant conditioning used and tokens are secondary reinforcers as they only gain value once patient has learned that they can obtain rewards.