Dr Vance is designing an intervention plan for a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia who has experienced multiple relapses shortly after returning home from inpatient care. Clinical interviews reveal that the patient's household is characterised by high levels of criticism and emotional over-involvement. Dr Vance decides to implement family therapy.
Which of the following best explains the therapeutic mechanism of family therapy in reducing relapse rates for this patient?
It utilizes individual cognitive restructuring to teach the patient that their family's critical comments are irrational, thereby training the patient to cognitively ignore these external stressors.
It modifies the home environment to reduce levels of Expressed Emotion (EE), which lowers the patient's physiological stress and increases their adherence to medication.
It implements operant conditioning principles within the household, training family members to use secondary reinforcers to reward the patient's rational behaviors and extinguish delusions.
It seeks to uncover and resolve historical, unconscious conflicts arising from double-bind communication patterns during the patient's childhood.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology CBT and family therapy for schizophrenia with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 21 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
