Psychoeducation
Encyclopedia
Psychoeducation refers to the education offered to people who live with a psychological disturbance. Frequently psychoeducational training involves patients with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

, clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

, anxiety disorders
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

, psychotic illnesses, eating disorders, and personality disorders, as well as patient training courses in the context of the treatment of physical illnesses. Family members are also included. A goal is for the patient to understand and be better able to deal with the presented illness. Also, the patient's own strengths, resources and coping skills are reinforced, in order to avoid relapse and contribute to their own health and wellness on a long-term basis. The theory is, with better knowledge the patient has of their illness, the better the patient can live with their condition.

Introduction to psychoeducation

Since it is often difficult for the patient and their family members to accept the patient's diagnosis, psychoeducation also has the function of contributing to the destigmatization of psychological disturbances and to diminish barriers to treatment. Through an improved view of the causes and the effects of the illness, psychoeducation frequently broadens the patient's view of their illness and this increased understanding can positively affect the patient. The relapse risk is in this way lowered; patients and family members, who are more well-informed about the disease, feel less helpless. Important elements in psychoeducation are:
  • Information transfer (symptomatology of the disturbance, causes, treatment concepts, etc.)
  • Emotional discharge (understanding to promote, exchange of experiences with others concerning, contacts, etc.)
  • Support of a medication
    Medication
    A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...

     or psychotherapeutic treatment, as cooperation is promoted between the mental health professional
    Mental health professional
    A mental health professional is a health care practitioner who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental illness. This broad category includes psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, mental health...

     and patient (compliance, adherence).
  • Assistance to self-help (e.g. training, as crisis situations are promptly recognized and what steps should be taken to be able to help the patient).

History

The concept of psychoeducation was first noted in the medical literature, in an article by John E. Donley "Psychotherapy and re-education" in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, published in 1911. It wasn't until 30 years later that the first use of the word psychoeducation appeared in the medical literature in title of the book The psychoeducational clinic by Brian E. Tomlinson. New York, NY, US: MacMillan Co. This book was published in 1941. In French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, the first instance of the term psychoéducation is in the thesis "La stabilité du comportement" published in 1962.

The popularization and development of the term psychoeducation into its current form is widely attributed to the American researcher C.M. Anderson in 1980 in the context of the treatment of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

. Her research concentrated on educating relatives concerning the symptoms and the process of the schizophrenia. Also, her research focused on the stabilization of social authority and on the improvement in handling of the family members among themselves. Finally, C.M. Anderson's research included more effective stress management techniques. Psychoeducation in behavior therapy has its origin in the patient's relearning of emotional and social skills. In the last few years increasingly systematic group programs have been developed, in order to make the knowledge more understandable to patients and their families.

Single and group psychoeducation

Psychoeducation can take place in one-on-one discussion or in groups and by any qualified health educator as well as health professionals such as nurses, social workers, psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...

s and physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

s. In the groups several patients are informed about their illnesses at once. Also, exchanges of experience between the concerned patients and mutual support play a role in the healing process.

Possible risks and side effects

Actually, nothing speaks against the participation in a psychoeducative group. However, acutely sick patients are frequently overtaxed with schizophrenic psychosis, and they suffer from substantial thinking, concentration and attention disturbances, at the beginning of their illness. Care should be taken not to overwhelm the patient with too much information. Besides positive effects of a therapeutic measure like psychoeducation, in principle, also other possible risks should be considered. The detailed knowledge of the illness, in particular regarding chances of recovery, therapy possibilities and the disease process, can make the patient and/or family member stress
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...

ed. Therefore, one should draw an exact picture of the risks regarding the psychological condition of the patient. It should be considered how much the patient already understands, and how much knowledge the patient can take up and process in their current condition. The ability to concentrate should be considered as well as the maximum level of emotional stress that the patient can take. In the context of a psychoeducational program a selection of aspects and/or therapy possibilities can be considered and discussed with the patient. Otherwise, the patient may form an incomplete picture of their illness, and they may form ideas about treatment alternatives from a vantage point of incomplete information. However, the professional should also make a complete representation of the possibilities of treatment, and attention should be paid to not make excessive demands of the patient, that is, giving too much information at once.

External links

  1. New York State Psychiatric Institute’s Patient and Family Library- A Psychoeducation Project
  2. New York City Voices: A Consumer-Run Psychoeducative Project
  3. Psychoeducational Article Archive
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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