AO3

• Dickerson found when reviewing 13 study findings, 11/13 studies demonstrated token economies were effective
• Research support - Glowacki et al. (2016) found that, in all 7 studies he examined, there was a reduction in negative symptoms and a decline in undesirable behaviours as a result of using token economies. However, this is one of very few studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of token economies and so tis could be a result of publication bias. This is when only positive/significant results are published and studies that have undesirable findings are not. Therefore, it is questionable as to just how effective token economies are in treating schizophrenia.
• The therapy does not address the symptoms of Schizophrenia and so can not be used as a standalone treatment. Also, once patients leave the hospital it is difficult to continue its use as there is no way to administer tokens when they are at home. Therefore, the therapy only really helps patients in the short term, whilst they are under the care of mental health professionals. However, it could be argued that token economies enable a patient to make enough of a recovery to be discharged from hospital and then undertake other longer term treatments, such as CBT.
• There is concern over the ethics of using such a treatment. For instance, those with severe symptoms or unresponsive negative symptoms will not attain as many rewards. This can lead to accusations of discrimination and enables clinicians to effectively have power over their patients lives. Also, by limiting rewards to those who are already seriously ill can add to their distress and even worsen their symptoms. Therefore, it could be the benefits of using token economies to treat patients is outweighed by the ethical costs.