Interactionist approach in treatment

• • acknowledges biological and environmental factors in the development of SZ = this model is compatible with both biological and psychological treatments
  • in particular combining anti-psychotic medication and psychological therapy
  • anti-pscyhotics treat the underlying biological factors like elevated dopamine)
  • psychological therapy includes CBT, family therapy to address distorted cognitions or family stress

  = a more holistic course of treatment - reduces the chance of relapse and enhances the wellbeing of the patient

  Often, treatment is started with anti-psychotics to reduce symptoms, increasing the stability of the individual and ensuring the psychological treatments can be as effective as possible - then psychological treatment wil also begin, whilst anti-psychotics continue
• Strengths

  • Support from Hogarty et al
  • assessed first year relapse rates - individuals with expressed emotion families
  • relapse rates
  • 0% - family therapy, social support, drug therapy
  • 20% - social support, drugs OR family therapy, drugs
  • 41% - only drugs
  • showing the effectiveness of using a combination of therapies and varying approaches
  • Sudak
  • anti-psychotics combined with CBT = higher compliance to drug therapy
  • indicates that CBT may give the patients rational insight into the benefits of drug therapy, increasing their chances of improvement

  = research has found using more than one form of treatment show the most effective results - supporting the idea that SZ is cause by mulitple factors, further suggesting this is the most appropriate way to treat the condition
• Further strength

  • it can explain why treatments can vary in effectiveness from person to person
  • each person has had a combination of factors causing the development of SZ so each person should have a combination of therapies to increase its effectiveness, ensuring it provide the best outcome for each individual
  • however combining therapies = higher cost BUT due to effectiveness, it is more cost effective in the long-term (patients are less likely to need serious support in the long-term)
  • therefore it should be the preferred approach to treatment for SZ
• Limitation

  • using drugs alongside psychological treatments
  • when recieving CBT, individuals may interpret side effects of the drugs as being caused by the therapy/therapist
  • so the individuals may mistrust the therapist, this can lead to resistance to further treatment
  • this can ultimately affect the person's likelihood of improvement
  • treatments MUST be carefully applied to ensure effectiveness