Interventions for Psychosis

Posted: December 21st, 2022

Interventions for Psychosis

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Interventions for Psychosis

Many people suffer from psychotic conditions and it is apparent that something needs to happen to avert more complications. The analysis looks into the current interventions used to treat psychosis. It shows how using techniques such as CBT, family-based interventions, and psychoeducation may help to address the problem. The paper reiterates the need to come with course-altering therapeutic strategies for treating schizophrenia. Various issues have derailed progress in this area, including inadequate research, lack of awareness, and disparity against people with mental problems. Taking measures to address the barriers will offer the chance to treat schizophrenia more effectively.

Current Interventions

Psychosis is a health condition that alters the way the brain processes and interprets information. The condition makes the affected person to lose touch with their real environment. For instance, an affected person can see, believe, or hear things that are not real (Millan et al., 2016). It is imperative to acknowledge that psychosis could cause altered ways of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations (Chien et al., 2013; Heinrichs, 2003). The condition according to Cascio et al. (2012) could be triggered by various factors, such as prescribed medication, alcohol and substance abuse, trauma, or physical injury or illness.

Fortunately, there are various intervention approaches addressing psychosis. One of the widely applied intervention technique is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) that applies the techniques of cognitive approaches and behavior adjustment to counter maladjusted thinking (Mueser et al., 2013). The approach has been utilized to address a variety of psychiatric diagnosis in adults and adolescents (Kuhn & Cahn, 2004). CBT is effective because it offers the chance to restore hope about one’s condition (Coyle et al., 2016; Tarrier, 2010). The other intervention approach for treating psychosis is family-based interventions that pays attention to alleviating expressed emotion and enhancing acceptance of the condition by the family members of the ailing person (Mashour, Walker & Martuza, 2005; Pfammatter, Junghan & Brenner, 2006). The therapist in this case relates with the family as a single unit. The approach works well to lower readmissions and relapse for psychotic individuals and elevate levels of adherence to medication and social functioning (Glynn et al., 2006; Stengard, 2005). The other effective intervention is psychoeducation, which entails indulging in didactic competent communication of particular information regarding a disorder in the presence of a patient’s family (de Leon & Diaz, 2005; Kirkbride, Fearon & Morgan, 2007). Other than being engaging, psychoeducation is increasingly becoming prominent because it equips those undergoing the procedure with information and skills that may help to handle the condition more effectively.

Challenges for Developing Course-Altering Therapeutic Strategies

Schizophrenia is a psychotic condition that would be easier to handle with the formation of effective therapeutic strategies. An evident challenge is that current researchers and practitioners tend to pay more attention to already existing techniques rather than progressing with the exploration with studies to find whether other unexplored methods may work effectively with patients and their families (Broyd et al., 2017). Hence, interveners and those receiving the services have to put up with the limitations associated with existing techniques. Another problem of constantly relying on already existing structures is that it may be difficult or even impossible to mitigate emerging challenges of dealing with schizophrenia (Schwartz, Sachdeva & Stahl, 2012). The other challenge that derail the formation of course-altering strategies is lack of enough sensitization on the need to fight schizophrenia (Tandon et al., 2010). Considering that at least one in five adults in the U.S. live with a mental problem, it is necessary to recognize the issue as one that deserves urgent attention to avert further incidences (Coyle et al., 2016). However, failing to sensitize various groups on the need to take schizophrenia seriously could affect how parties adopt course-altering therapeutic methods. The third challenge is disparity against people with mental disorder (Howes & Murray, 2014; Liberman et al., 2008). The problem denies the group the attention they really need, and affect the rate at which resources are committed to helping patients. It would be difficult to elevate how schizophrenia patients receive effective care without finding apt solutions to the identified barriers.

How to Overcome the Challenges

Researchers and practitioners should put much effort into identifying new ways of helping those who suffer from schizophrenia. Relying on technology offers a suitable chance to embrace new forms, and makes it possible to formulate more effective remedies that may ease some of the emerging concerns (Rutten & Mill, 2009). Scholars should engage in joint studies to increase their chances of coming up with more useful findings that are likely to appeal to health workers, patients, and their families (Dyck et al., 2002; Sommer et al., 2012). Enhanced researches will help to show the importance of using alternative interventions such as Ketogenic diet that Sarnyai et al. (2019) and Sarnyai and Palmer (2020) identify as having the capacity to address adverse effects of schizophrenia. Relying on already existing techniques would give valuable direction on current and future researches, and will increase the likelihood of devising therapies that therapists and patients can relate with.

Creating much awareness will create the urge to more effective intervention approaches that would increase one’s chances of feeling better. The awareness should touch on the need to get away from traditional forms and stress the values of exploring modern styles (Buuse, 2010; Li & Arthur, 2005). An appropriate way to enhance the awareness process is to reach out to people through electronic and digital media avenues because these have the potential to carry news far and wide. The other way to create sensitization on the values of creating more effective intervention techniques according to Kumari and Postma (2005) and Sarnyai et al. (2019) is to train educators on new approaches, which will allow learners to gain information about more effective intervention techniques.

It is important to treat people with psychosis as individuals who deserve equal treatment and attention as any other person to facilitate the rate at which more effective intervention techniques are developed. Presently, those living with mental health issues face a lot of discrimination from other members of the society, which denies them the chance to receive proper attention (Keshavan et al., 2014; Rolland et al., 2014). Consequently, reviewing the treatment the group from the society, will increase the focus on developing more robust therapeutic interventions.

Conclusion

The paper identifies mental problem as an issue that requires considerable attention from all stakeholders. It illustrates how various intervention techniques help to treat psychosis. Practitioners should be able to apply the various methods as effectively as possible and determine an approach that could suit specific patients. The essay identifies schizophrenia as a psychotic problem that requires considerable attention. However, handling the problem as effectively as possible requires concerned parties to facilitate the formation of appropriate intervening techniques. A suitable way to excel in this area is to overcome some of the challenges that deter the process of identifying and applying new or alternative methods to address the health complication. Consequently, researchers should perform more studies to identify new concepts. More awareness should take place to show the need to develop more helpful therapies, and it is also necessary to avoid any form of discrimination against people with mental health problems.

References

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