COP2//How to treat schziophrenia

Part of the book is going show how schizophrenia can be addressed. As schizophrenia is a mental illness that it hard to diagnos and even hard to treat, it is interesting to see what approaches are in practice. 

Individual Psychotherapy

Sigmund Freud created psychoanalysis, a philosophy in which symptoms of mental illness are considered external expressions of unconscious problems. In psychoanalysis, an analyst and patient meet frequently to reveal and explore these unconscious conflicts. Psychoanalysis is hard work for both patient and therapist. In the first half of the twentieth century, patients withschizophreniawere routinely treated with psychoanalysis. 

Psychotic patients were asked to discuss their symptoms and consider them in relation to their childhood experience—an exhausting and potentially impossible task.  In the 1980s, researchers began to reveal that not only was psychoanalysis not helpful for patients withschizophrenia, but also, in some cases, it actually made people worse. Researchers suspect that the stress of a psychoanalytic session was simply too much for many patients withschizophreniato handle.

More recently, therapists have begun to use personal therapy to treatschizophrenia. Personal therapy is another form of individual psychotherapy in which patients work one-on-one with a therapist to learn coping and life skills. Different skills are taught at appropriate stages of a patient’s recovery. For example, when a patient is just coming home from the hospital, a therapy session might focus on identifying and managing stress. Later, a patient might learn how to talk about a problem with a family member.

More recently, therapists have begun to use personal therapy to treatschizophrenia. Personal therapy is another form of individual psychotherapy in which patients work one-on-one with a therapist to learn coping and life skills. Different skills are taught at appropriate stages of a patient’s recovery. For example, when a patient is just coming home from the hospital, a therapy session might focus on identifying and managing stress. Later, a patient might learn how to talk about a problem with a family member.

Read more:Schizophrenia Psychological Treatments -Schizophrenia- Schizophrenia Treatment and Outcome-http://www.health.am/psy/more/schizophrenia-psychological-treatments/#ixzz2SzSMLBVF

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Many mental disorders are characterized by thoughts and behaviors that make people unhappy or uncomfortable. People who are depressed often think negatively about themselves and believe that they are worthless.

As you have learned, manyschizophreniapatients experience delusions, or false beliefs that are resistant to change. The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is to change these maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.

In the past, CBT was used primarily to treat depression and anxiety disorders.  Clinicians thought schizophrenic patients were too impaired to be treated with CBT. Recently, researchers in the United Kingdom have explored the use of CBT withschizophreniapatients. Therapists challenge the reality of hallucinations and delusions and ask patients to consider alternative explanations for their strange experiences. The goal of this process is to decrease the impact of symptoms, keep patients out of the hospital, and improve their social interactions. Because this is such a new treatment forschizophrenia, there is little research to tell us how helpful it is. One study has shown thatschizophreniapatients who undergo CBT report that their symptoms improve. Studies have also found, however, that other types of therapy are equally effective. Researchers wonder whether the type of therapy is less important than the emotional support therapy in general provides.

http://www.health.am/psy/more/schizophrenia-psychological-treatments/