PSYCHO-EDUCATION. Boon or bane??

 

Indented to make a recovery, it contradicts the basic principles in psychology. This widely applied strategy is psycho education. Psycho education refers to the education offered to people who live with a psychological disturbance. Frequently psycho educational training involves patients with schizophrenia, clinical depression, anxiety
disorders, psychotic illnesses, eating disorders, and personality disorders, as well as patient training courses in the context of the treatment of physical illnesses. At times family members are also asked to attend the session.

Here is my bit of opinion from about the same.

Doing an internship at Spandana re-habilitation center was of course a great experience on the whole. Of having an interaction with them and taking a close look at their schedule, one thing that drew all my attention was the Psycho-education session included in their schedule .All patients were asked to assemble in groups allotted to them in a hall where a psychologist or intern is asked to give a lecture on a disorder that they are suffering from. To put it in more straight terms it is to remind them that’ they are ill’. Such sessions are conducted once a week .Doesn‘t this frequency sound little too much?

According to one of the great psychologists, Skinner, positive re-enforcement is always advantageous over the negative.  Ironically; psycho-education which is supposed to be the most employed methods goes right against this.

 It is not less heard that a person with ailment recovers when he is told his problem is nothing major and given a boost of confidence When on one hand it serves the purpose of spreading awareness, on the other it does of course pull down the patient’s confidence. The point to think over is that  ...”Would a patient who on the first hand needs motivation than anything else show signs of recovery when he is constantly told –YOU ARE SICK? “