Cognitive Therapy of Schizophrenia

Chung, Young Chul

Abstract

There are two kinds of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: one is a cognitive deficit, and the other is a cognitive distortion. Cognitive therapy addresses these two issues. First, cognitive deficit means the poor function of attention, information-processing and recalling which may be present as a primary or secondary symptoms. So, the correction of cognitive deficit is important in terms of the rehabilitation of schizophrenic patients and the prevention of illness itself in cognitive-vulnerable candidates. The treatment programs of cognitive deficit are as follows: attention skills training, letter recognition training, reaction-time task and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Secondly, cognitive distortion means the irrational thinking processes which occur to those who have a maladaptive schema. As a result of this, lots of psychiatric symptoms including delusions and hallucinations can be explained depending upon what types of schema and irrational thinking have involved. Specific therapeutic techniques are as follows: socratic questioning, peripheral questioning, agreement to differ, tactic withdrawal, alternative explanation, empirical testing and collaborative empiricism. Sound and good therapeutic relationships are essential to the success of cognitive therapy like the other therapeutic approaches. And if we practice cognitive therapy with a systematic manner and impatience, it will be an another valuable therapeutic tool for the management of psychotic symptoms.