Outline and Evaluate One Psychological Therapy for Schizophrenia. (4 Marks + 8 Marks)

The main consensus among psychiatrists is that biological methods alone, cannot cure schizophrenia, due to them targeting the symptoms and not the cause, however many forms of therapies have arisen, one of these is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT.

The basis of this therapy is that patients have inaccurate beliefs that influence their behaviour in maladaptive ways. Delusions are thought to arise from faulty interpretations of first hand events and CBT aims to correct these. In CBT, a patient is encouraged to trace back the origin of their symptoms to see how they may have developed.

They are also asked to assess the validity of their delusions and hallucinations, to try and make them see that these are irrational. For example, the therapist may ask the client to question how true the visual hallucination of a figure behind them is if no one else can see it. Patients are also set behavioural assignments to help their treatment, and these may come in the form of practices such as breathing exercises to alleviate the distress caused by the positive symptoms of the disorder. Therefore, CBT aims to work with the client to help alleviate distress caused by the symptoms, and to help their faulty cognitions which manifest in faulty beliefs.

The effectiveness of CBT has been advocated by many studies. For instance, Gould et al (2001) carried out a meta-analysis of 7 studies and found that all of them reported a statistically significant decrease in the positive symptoms after treatment. Alongside this, Drury et al (1996) corroborates with Gould’s findings, as well as reporting a 25-50% reduction time in recovery when using CBT alongside antipsychotics. This thus adds more weight to the proposal that CBT is an effective therapy.

However, CBT can only ‘cure’ the negative symptoms, it doesn’t stop the patient from seeing hallucinations, and instead it teaches them to ignore their hallucinations and voice. There is also the issue of how much of the effectiveness is...