CBT can help a client make sense of how their irrationalcognitions (such as delusions and hallucinations) impact on their feelings and behaviour
Just understandingwheresymptoms come from can be hugely helpful for those with symptoms like auditory hallucinations
If a client hearsvoices and believes the voices representdemonicforces, they will naturally be very afraid
If a therapist can convince them that the voice actually comes from the malfunctioning speech centre in their own brain and that it cannot hurt them if they ignore it this is much less frightening
CBT:
Doesn't eliminate symptoms of schizo but can make people better able to cope with them
Reducesdistress and improvesability to function adequately
People hearing voices can be helped by teaching them that voice-hearing is an extension of the ordinaryexperience of thinking in words called normalisation
Delusions are challenged ie by a process of realitytesting where the person with schizo and their therapist jointly examine the likelihood that beliefs are true
In some cases where delusions are resistant to reality testing CBT can still be used to tackle the anxiety and depression
Family therapy
Takes place with families as well as the identifiedpatient (a term used in family therapy which describes one member of a dysfunctional family who expresses the family's conflicts)
Aims to improve the quality of communication and interaction between family members. There is a range of approaches to family therapy for schizophrenia
How family therapy helps
Pharoah et al identified a range of strategies that familytherapists use to improve the functioning of a family that has a member with schizophrenia
Family therapy
Pharoah
Reduces negative emotions
Aims to reducelevels of expressed emotion ie reduce the level of emotion generally but especially negativeemotions ie anger which create stress
Reducingstress is important to reduce the likelihood of relapse
2. Improves the family's ability to help
Encourages family to form a therapeuticalliance whereby they all agree on the aims of therapy
Improve families' beliefsabout and behaviour towards schizo
Aim to ensure that family members achieve a balance between caring for the individual with schizo and maintaining their own lives