Psycho Education
Psycho education refers to the process of providing education for the patients and their loved ones to help them understand and become accustomed to living with mental health conditions, going through transitions in their life, is considered to be an essential aspect of all therapy program. It involves the practise of educating clients with mental illness and their families on the condition’s aetiology, course, effects, prognosis, and available treatments. According to the definition of psychoeducation, it is a “systematic, structured, didactic information regarding the illness and its treatment, and includes integrating emotional components to help patients – as well as family members – to cope with the condition.”
Preventing patients with severe mental illnesses from having frequent relapsing episodes of illness, ensuring medication and treatment adherence, and promoting their re-entry into their home communities with special consideration for their social and occupational functioning are the immediate goals of psychoeducation. For those with schizophrenia and other severe mental diseases and behavioural abnormalities, psychoeducation has been found to enhance patient outcomes.
Psychoeducation is used to inform the patients or their family members about the following things
- Risk factors connected to the progression and result of various mental disorders
- describing the early warning indicators and causes of relapse
- self-reflection and proper appraisal of the problem’s typical symptoms
- removing stigma, misconceptions, and negative attitudes about patients and mental illness
- crisis management and suicide prevention activities
Psychoeducation sessions comprise of the following components
- aetiological variables
- frequently occurring symptoms
- knowledge of the early indications of relapse or recurrence
- how to handle the circumstance
- various therapy possibilities
- when to seek treatment and how
- requirement to adhere to therapy as directed by the treating team
- long-term direction and result
- tips for family members on how to interact with the patient
- removing stigma and eliminating misunderstandings regarding the condition
There are numerous varieties of Psychoeducational Models
These models incorporate strategic components when implementing interventions, such as the creation of single- and multiple-family groups, mixed groups with patients and their families, groups with varying durations, from nine months to more than five years, and groups that concentrate on patients and their families at various stages of the illness.
- The Information Model aims to educate families about mental illness and how to treat it. The purpose of this strategy is to increase family members’ knowledge of the illness s and involvement in the patient’s care.
- The Skill Training Model aims to systematically develop particular behaviours in order to improve family members’ capacity to support sick relatives and manage disease more successfully.
- The Supportive Model is a strategy that typically makes use of support groups and is intended to encourage patient families to express their emotions and experiences. Here, the primary objective is to strengthen and improve the families’ emotional capacities to handle the responsibility of caring for their sick loved ones.
- The Comprehensive Model, often known as a combination method, combines knowledge with skill development and supportive models. Members of this approach initially get lectures regarding the ailment. They must participate in a support group for multiple families. They must actively participate in the final phase, especially in individual sessions with a mental health specialist.
Psychoeducation may be individual, family, group, or community-based depending on the target population. It may also be compliance/adherence focused, disease focused, therapy focused, or rehabilitation oriented, depending on the prevailing focus. Active psychoeducation entails the therapist actively participating in the process with the patient/family, resulting in interaction and clarification. In passive psychoeducation, patients and family members are given pamphlets, audio, and video content that they are expected to read and absorb on their own. A doctor may use passive psychoeducation in a busy clinic with time constraints by giving out brochures or educational materials on the illness that are written in plain language that the patient and their guardians can readily grasp and absorb.
- Single-family homes or groups of families with patients who have similar illnesses can both benefit from family psychoeducation. Since most Indian patients, unlike their Western counterparts, remain with their families, family-based psychoeducation programmes might be highly helpful in the Indian context. Studies on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have shown that family-based psychoeducational approaches are successful. When dealing with severe mental diseases, family psychoeducation is particularly crucial since during the symptomatic phase, individuals lack insight and may be unwilling to take medications. In order for them to recognise and receive the appropriate support, it is also beneficial to make them aware of the early indications of recurrence.
- Patients with similar illnesses typically participate in group psychoeducation. Patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance misuse, etc. may be included in groups. The formation of a group with individuals suffering from various illnesses is not preferred. The ideal group size is 8, with members often ranging from 4 to 12. The typical range of sessions is 5 to 24, with research and clinical experience helping to identify the ideal number. The general areas to be covered for each condition remain the same, however the number of sessions may change often depending on the resources (time and manpower) available. The lessons typically run 40 to 60 minutes and are scheduled primarily every week.
A properly certified and trained professional who has been approved by the patient’s treatment team or primary therapist must deliver psychoeducation. We offer awareness program, orientation and lectures to individual as well as group. The ideal aim of this service is to offer a stronger base of knowledge for knowing on ways to cope and thrive in spite of the condition.
Get in Touch
Please Fill out the form, We will contact you at the earliest.