Describe and Evaluate Two Psychological Therapies for Schizophrenia in Terms of Appropriateness and Effectiveness

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Describe and Evaluate Two Psychological therapies for Schizophrenia in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness (24Marks) One psychological therapy is token economy which comes under Meilieu therapy. Token economy is when patients are rewarded for desirable behavior such as crushing teeth or going to the toilet. Patients are then given tokens for their desirable behavior which can be used to watch TV., have chocolate and crisps etc. research has shown that token economy (with the combination with other interventions) succeeded in the community reintegration of 78% of the clients within an average period of 110 days, after more than 7 years of uninterrupted hospital stay. Proving that token economy can produce significant improvements in self-care and desirable behavior; even with chronic institutionalized schizophrenics. Ayllon and Azri (1968) set up a token economy with schizophrenic patients in a psychiatric institution. They found that the amount of socially desirable behavior increased. Patients went from preforming an average of 5 chores a day to around 40. However, token economy has issues, such as that you could argue that you are taking away patient’s basic rights to use as rewards. Another criticism which shows why token economy may not be and appropriate and effective therapy is that it has low ecological validity; it may not transfer into the real world. Once patients are away from institutions, they often discarded desirable behavior as there are no longer any rewards to reinforce it. Another disadvantage is the ethical issues surrounding the use of behavioral therapy. It could be argued it doesn't really help the patient; it just makes their behavior more acceptable to others. As well patient’s behavior may just be superficial. They might only produce desirable behavior knowing they’re going to receive a token. Showing that token economy isn't

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