Verified Document

Psychological Disorders Diagnosis And Treatment Essay

¶ … Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychological Disorders Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Has Been Increasingly Used In the Treatment of Psychosis over the Last 10 To 15 Years. Describe CBT for Psychosis and Evaluate the Evidence for the Effectiveness for This Intervention in Treating Psychosis

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy's (CBT's) application to psychosis has, of late, been intensely debated. A number of independent psychologists and health organizations are proposing diverse interpretations with regard to what CBT in psychosis treatment really refers to. For example, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence proposes CBT with a small amount of evidence, whereas Maddox (2014), a psychologist, maintains that psychosis denotes a broad or umbrella term applied to a group of symptoms, which are divided into negative or positive. This classification does not imply that some symptoms are bad while others are good; rather, the intention is expressing that some symptoms add a new element, while others take away an element. Positive symptoms constitute those which add a kind of unusual experience (such as delusions, i.e., having strong faith in things, which appear nonsensical to others, or hallucinations, i.e., seeing things others aren't able to see). Negative symptoms, on the other hand, deal with some elements the individual is deprived of (such as, lack of motivation (avolition), emotion, or enjoyment (anhedonia). Multiple researches have indeed shown that CBT for psychotics can assist them in leaving behind some experiences or behaviors responsible for their indulgence in bad behaviors or activities.

Numerous other academic works and reviews prove that CBT in treating psychotics reduces their symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions, in addition to some mental processing correlates of the positive symptoms. These findings explicitly indicate that CBT treatment for psychotics in functioning levels, low mood, and anxiety levels, come under other benefits the patients can achieve. Fundamentally, CBT's intent is to treat functional inefficiencies, such as distress, which...

Dr. Maddox (2014) states, in this regard, that the goal of CBT is not always to stop a patient from, say, hearing voices; rather, it may change the patient's perception of the voices, lending a less threatening, and different, meaning to them.
While studying CBT in the context of psychosis treatment, the foremost step to be taken is attempting to identify the different kinds of strange experiences an individual undergoes, as well as the precise time frame of occurrence of these experiences. The most helpful step for therapists will probably be recognizing the aims and goals of individual patients while going into therapy. Lovell (1997) and Velpry (2008) maintain that the perspective of patients isn't independently confessed by them; rather, it is in, and influenced by, a context, which is why, if patients fail to display even a small degree of independence in the course of therapy, they won't recover easily.

Effectiveness of this Intervention in Treating Psychosis

As per the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2002), an assessment of CBT has proven that it is highly economical. Many clients who have been administered this therapy have displayed huge changes within short spans of time. Gould, Bolton, and Mueser (2001) are of the view that CBT is the only therapy that has an immensely short gap of follow-up for chronic schizophrenics. Turkington, Kingdon, and Turner (2002), claim that CBT can be effectively employed in community settings. Their research, which was in the form of a case study, entailed CBT training in psychosis for community nurses specialized in the field of psychiatric nursing, for a 10-day time period. While analyzing study result, the researchers found that CBT was effectively implemented by the trained nurses in reducing depression and general symptoms, and offering insight improvement. CBT seems to work for psychotics having an average 12-15% dropout rate; it also seems to be a safe treatment option (Turkington et al., 2002). Moreover, hallucinations and other such psychotic symptoms, which are associated with gradual delusions or trauma, can be treated through brief CBT administration. CBT specialists administer anywhere between 20 and 50 CBT treatment sessions in such psychotic cases, effectively curing the patient. The treatment method is considered to have a high success rate among patients with various types of psychosis, as previously performed studies have proven zero cases of patient indulgence in violence, agitation, or suicidal ideation. This fact suggests that…

Sources used in this document:
Resources, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584580 / (retrieved 7/11/2015)

Leibig and Leichsenring. (2003). The effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of personality disorders: a meta-analysis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12832233 (retrieved 7/11/2015)

Lovell A.M. (1997). The City Is My Mother. Narratives of Schizo- phrenia And Homelessness.American Anthropologist. 99 (2): 355-368

Maddox S. (2014). what is CBT for psychosis anyway?, theguardian, http://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2014/may/20/cbt-psychosis-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-voices (retrieved 7/11/2015)

National Institute for Clinical Excellence. (2002), Clinical Guideline 1: Schizophrenia. Core Interventions in the Treatment and Management of Schizophrenia in Primary and Secondary Care London: NICE
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Psychological Disorders and Treatment
Words: 3175 Length: 12 Document Type: Essay

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) has become the treatment of choice for a wide range of psychological disorders and its efficacy has been demonstrated by numerous quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies (Spates & Pagoto, 2010). In order to develop a thorough understanding of CBT and its applications, this paper provides a review of a series of quantitative and qualitative research articles as well as a mixed methods study and a

Psychological Disorders and Treatment
Words: 549 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Mentally ill in U.S. As the world becomes a more complex entity and technology and speed increase, mental illness is also on the rise. Mental illness can range from slight situational depression to more serious diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The study of such illnesses in the population is called epidemiology. Epidemiology is reported using different factors. Two of these are incidence, or the number of new cases of a

Psychological Disorder ADHD ADHD Is
Words: 1806 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

My final recommendation was that the parents and Adam's teachers should work as a team to help Adam manage his condition. In other words, the parents should communicate with the teachers to determine if the interventions have been effective. I would then talk to the parents themselves every two months to make further recommendations as necessary. CONCLUSION While drug interventions for ADHD, especially in children, have been increasingly controversial because of

Treatment of Psychological Disorders the Patient Is
Words: 2477 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Treatment of Psychological Disorders The patient is a 46-year-old man who is experiencing difficulties at work to which he attributes the symptoms he is experiencing. Presenting symptoms include feelings of depression, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, and three episodes of panic-attack. The patient's wife is very worried about her husband and reports that their communication is practically non-existent over the past three weeks. Schema for Diagnosis, Treatment, and

Psychological Disorders and Therapy Bipolar Disorder
Words: 964 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

features of bipolar disorder, including its symptoms. Like its cousin, depression, bipolar disorder is a disease of depression that can become manic at times, and at other times, the symptoms can virtually disappear. There are various types of the disease, and it often appears in childhood, but is not diagnosed. Bipolar disease can be treated effectively in several different ways. Bipolar disorder is not as common as depression, but it

Health Psychology Stress Coping and Well-Being Psychological Disorders...
Words: 931 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Psychological Disorders Word Count (excluding subheadings and questions): 836 First Assignment Option 1 - Perspectives on Psychological Disorder Medical Perspective: Webpage: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mental-illness/DS01104 The medical perspective on psychological disorders proposes that abnormal behavior can have a root physiological cause. Physiological causes of abnormal behavior include chemical imbalances or brain injuries. Changes in brain biochemistry can affect a mood and personality which can be seen as a symptom of mental disorder. Causes of brain chemistry changes include

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now