psychological

• what is CBT based on?

  the idea that people with schizophrenia have faulty thought processes and irrational thinking.
• what is the goal of CBT

  adjust thinking patterns and innappropriate beliefs, which in turn will make behaviour more 'normal'
• how does CBT work for people with schizophrenia?

  training clients to view their negative responses in situations as hypothesis. patients can generally identify what their triggers are, to the onset of symptoms, and they develop their own methods of coping with the distress caused by symptoms. antipsychotics are usually given before this to reduce the psychotic thought processes to make CBT more effective
• what is PT

  personal therapy.

  this involves detailed evaluation of problems and experiences, their triggers and consequences, and strategies used to cope. this involves:

  • distraction from intrusive thoughts
  • challenging the meanings of intrusive thoughts
  • increasing / decreasing social activity to distract from low moods
  • using relaxation techniques
• what is rational emotive therapy

  this is used to teach patients that emotional instability is a common feature of the disease that they must live with and teaches relaxation techniques
• Zimmerman

  conducted a meta analysis of 14 CBT studies between 1990 and 2004

  1484 patients CBT reduced positive symptoms in short term, acute schizophrenia