psychological therapy for schizophrenia

• cognitive behaviour therapy?

  method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. from the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking such as challenging negative thoughts.
• family therapy?

  psychological therapy carried out with all or some family members with the aim of improving the communications within the family and reducing the stress of living as a family.
• strength of CBT?

  P - evidence for its effectiveness

  E - jauhar et al reviewed 34 studies of using CBT with schizophrenia, concluding that there's clear evidence for small but significant effects on both positive and negative symptoms. other studies have focused oj symptoms, pontillo et al found reductions in frequency and severity of auditory hallucinations. clinical advice from NICE recommends CBT for schizophrenia.

  L - both research and clinical experience support the benefits of CBT for SZ.
• limitation of CBT for schizophrenia?

  P - Wide range of techniques and symptoms included in studies.

  E - CBT techniques and schizophrenia symptoms vary widely from one case to another. Thomas points out that different studies have involved the use of different CBT techniques and people with different combinations of positive and negative symptoms. the overall modest benefits of CBT for schizophrenia probably conceal a wide variety of effects of different CBT techniques on different symptoms.

  L - makes it hard to say how effective CBT will be for a particular person with schizophrenia.
• strength of family therapy for schizophrenia?

  P - evidence of its effectiveness

  E - mcfarlane concluded that family therapy was one of the most consistently effective treatments available for SZ. Relapse rates were found to be reduced typically by 50-60%. also concluded that using family therapy as mental health initially starts to decline is particularly promising. clinical advice from NICE recommends family therapy for everyone with SZ.

  L - likely to be of benefit to people with both early and full blown SZ.
• another strength of family therapy for schizophrenia?

  P - benefits for all family members

  E - therapy isn't just for the benefit of the identified patient but also for the families that provide the bulk of the care. lobban and barrowclough included that these effects are important as families provided the bulk of care for people with SZ. by strengthening the functioning of a whole family, family therapy lessens the negative impact of SZ on other family members and strengths the ability of the family to support the person with SZ.

  L - has wider benefits beyond the obvious positive impact on patient.
• how does CBT help?

  -Helps a client make sense of how their irrational conventions impact on their feelings and behaviour.

  -if a client hears voices and believes the voices are demonic they'll be very afraid. if a therapist can convince them the voice comes from the ,malfunctioning speech centre in their own brain and it can't hurt them if they ignore it this is much less frightening and less debilitating. won't eliminate the symptoms of SZ but can make people cope better. reduces their stress and improves their ability to function adequately.
• how does family therapy help?

  -reduces negative emotions- aims to reduce levels of expressed emotion and negative emotions like anger and guilt which create stress.

  -improves the family's ability to help- encourages the family members to form a therapeutic alliance whereby they all agree on the aims of therapy. the therapist tries to improve families beliefs about and behaviour towards SZ. ensures that family members achieve a balance between caring for the individual with SZ and maintaining their own lives.