Outline and Evaluate Family Therapy as a Way of Treating Schizophrenia PDF

Preview

Summary

16 MARK EXAM ANSWER ON FAMILY THERAPY - TREATING SCHIZOPHRENIA...

Description

Outline and Evaluate Family Therapy as a Way of Treating Schizophrenia The therapy aims to form an alliance with all family members, improving communication and interaction. Pharoah identified a range of strategies which improved functioning of the family, such as reducing conflict and stress, and improving communication. By reducing the level of stress and expressed emotion, whilst increasing the chances of the patient complying with medication, there may be a reduced relapse rate. Overall, the therapy is the only one which focuses on the family rather than the individual, aiming give families the ability to resolve problems, reduce anger and guilt, and help find a work/life balance. Family therapy is shown to be effective by Pharoah. His meta analysis showed it can be effective in improving issues such as mental state and social functioning. Thus, strengthening its usefulness to schizophrenic patients. Furthermore, it is economically beneficial; the NICE review showed that there are significant cost savings when compared to standard care. This reduces the cost of hospitalization due to lower relapse rates. Therefore, this suggests the method may be taken up by more individuals suffering with Sz and their family members, due to the improvement in symptoms, the lower relapse, and expense spared. The treatment is also supported by its positive impact on family members. Libbon analysed the results of family therapy studies which included an intervention to support relatives. 60% on the studies reported a significant positive impact on at least one outcome category, for the relative. Thus, suggesting the therapy can be used widely, helping patients with the disorder and those around them. This shows the therapy is not only useful for the family but also for the individual with schizophrenia, as it reduces relapse rates by creating a calm family climate. Despite this, the study is limited by questions around how worthwhile the therapy is. Garety failed to show any better outcomes for patients given family therapy sessions compared to those who just had carers. They both had low relapse rates and most of the carers displayed low expressed emotion. Thus, the researcher suggested family intervention may not improve outcomes for many, compared to standard treatment. Furthermore, this implies the therapy is not more helpful than what is regularly used, raising issues surrounding whether patients would be better off without family therapy. In addition, there are methodological limitations to the therapy. All studies used in Pharoah’s meta analysis claimed to have used random allocation, with most participants being from China. However, there has been recent evidence to suggest random allocation was not used, causing negative implications for the credibility of the results. In addition, the limited sample raises questions of generalizability, with China being a collectivist culture and thus emphasizing the needs of the group. This may lead to a higher willingness to partake in the therapy, compared to western cultures, this suggests, there may be issues with the reliability of the findings. Furthermore, there was a lack of blind trails used, resulting in researchers knowing which people were allocated to each condition. This may have led to investigator bias, knowing what they expected or wanted to find. This suggests the results should be used with caution, and as such lack reliability....