1. Psychological Therapies for Schizophrenia
Family Intervention and Social Skills Training

2. Family Intervention
The type of communication within a family can influence the maintenance of schizophrenia.
One type of treatment is aimed at reducing the level of negative expressed emotion in the family.

3. Family Intervention
This kind of treatment involves several family members as well as the individual with schizophrenia.
It involves an educational element where family members are given information about the disorder and ways of managing it e.g. improving communication styles, lowering expressed emotion, adjusting expectations and expanding social networks.

4. Family Intervention
Dallos and Draper (2002) have found that Family Therapy is becoming increasingly helpful as a means of dealing with psychopathology that may result from the relationship dynamics within the family.
According to the NHS, who use family therapy to treat schizophrenic sufferers:-
Many people with schizophrenia rely on family members for their care and support. While most family members are happy to help, the stress of caring for somebody with schizophrenia can place a strain on any family.

5. Family Intervention
Family therapy is a way of helping both the sufferer and their family to cope better with the condition.
Family therapy involves a series of informal meetings that take place over a period of six months.
Meetings may include:
discussing information about schizophrenia,
exploring ways of supporting somebody with schizophrenia, and
deciding how to solve practical problems that can be caused by the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Often the therapist applies the systems theory, which attempts to understand the family as a social system, as a treatment to understanding the complex relationships and alliances that exist between family members. The next step would be remould these relationships into those expected in a well-functioning family.

6. Family Intervention Evaluation
Pharoah et al 2003 – found that family interventions of this type were effective in significantly reducing rates of relapse and admission to hospital in people with schizophrenia.

7. Family Intervention Evaluation
Family intervention may also be appropriate because it can improve compliance with medication, which ultimately contributes to the effectiveness of drug therapy.

8. Family Intervention Evaluation May not be the case for everyone.
Is it successful without drug therapy?
Only suitable for patients who have a close network of family and/or live with family.

9. Social Skills Training
Individuals with schizophrenia have a number of problems with social skills, e.g. social interactions, self-care, coping with stressful situations.
Social skills training programmes aim to teach complex interpersonal skills so that people with schizophrenia can manage their lives more effectively.

10. Social Skills Training
Evaluation
The results are generally positive, but it seems likely that the gains are not always maintained after the programme has ended.
This approach works best in conjunction with other therapies.
Hogarty (2002) patients receiving medication and social skills training adjusted living in their community an avoided re-hospitalisation more successfully than other groups on either medication or social skills alone.
Conclusion – therapies work best in conjunction with others.