Treatment of Schizophrenia

AO1

·         Description of two distinct treatments for schizophrenia

·         Description of studies relevant to the description of the therapies

AO2

·         Evaluation of the general approach in therapy family

·         Specific evaluation of research studies 

·         Induces epileptic like seizure

·         Developed by Cerletti and Brini (1938)

·         Side effects: morbidity rate is low (5%) some broken bones and bruising

·         Bennett (2003) sees ECT as a terrifying experience of personal autonomy, causing a disruption of emotions and memory

·         Benton (1981) seen as punishment rather than a treatment,  memory loss and biochemical changes occur

·         Hard to test success rates

·         2001 review suggested that it was no better or worse than medication as a treatment

·         Sanita et al (1998) showed no difference in success rates between real and stimulated ECT, suggesting it is not the actual therapy that is successful

·         Ignores psychological factors

·         Memory loss makes symptoms worse, after many treatments, symptoms get progressively world

·         Many ethical issues – barbaric treatment 

·         Most common treatment used

·         Identifies and corrects disorted reality

·         5-20 weekly/fortnightly sessions

·         Origins of the symptoms are found and considers explanations for them

·         Tests faulty belief systems

·         Kingdon and Kirschen (2006) many patients are not suitable as they can not engage fully with the therapy

·         Ignorance of family/ societal factors

·         Biological factors are left untreated

·         Timely and costly

·         Needs the diathesis to be successful

·         Drury et al – patients have less hallucinations when in CBT

·         Low dropout rate and greater patient satisfaction

·         Hard to separate the success of the treatment from anti-psychotic drugs