Psychoeducation Benefits
Psychiatrists and therapists often talk about psychoeducation, but what does it mean? Put simply, it's the way that mental health professionals teach people about their mental health conditions and disorders. People who receive a diagnosis of any kind want to learn about their condition, and mental disorders are no different.
Being diagnosed with a mental health condition can be challenging because it can bring up strong emotions. Most people want to know what their diagnosis means and how the mental illness will affect their life. Psychoeducation can answer these questions and many more.
Being diagnosed with a mental health condition can be challenging because it can bring up strong emotions. Most people want to know what their diagnosis means and how the mental illness will affect their life. Psychoeducation can answer these questions and many more.
What is psychoeducation?
Psychoeducation appeared over 100 years ago, but the term was popularized in 1980 by C.M. Anderson. Today, psychoeducation is a standard part of treatment for nearly every type of mental health disorder and is considered a form of basic psychotherapeutic intervention for patients. It can also be used to educate family members during family therapy, teams in a workplace, or individuals with severe mental health conditions about mental health. What has this term come to mean? Why is it such an important part of treatment? The best way to learn more about it is to start with a simple and concise definition.
Definition
Think of psychotherapy as a tool for personal development and even relapse prevention.
Who can provide psychoeducation?
Several different types of mental health professionals can provide psychoeducation. These include:
- Therapists
- Psychiatrists
- Support group leaders
- Psychoeducation specialists
After receiving psychoeducation from any of these professionals, other people can assist in information with people receiving treatment. They include:
- Parents
- Teachers
- Caregivers
- Group home workers
Who can benefit from psychoeducation?
Medical literature generally agrees that anyone who is in treatment for a mental health condition can benefit from psychoeducation, psychoeducation therapy, and other forms of briefing. For example, if you have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or eating disorders, psychoeducation will help you learn about your condition and how to cope with it. Although people who have a severe condition may have trouble understanding the information that is being, even they can benefit from limited psychoeducation therapy.
Furthermore, family and loved ones can also benefit from psychoeducation. They can learn to understand signs of mental illnesses like depression, how to interact and handle situations, and how to be a more loving, understanding, and helpful parent, husband/wife, friend, sibling, etc. to those who struggle with mental health conditions.
Psychoeducation is now considered one avenue of treatment for mental health disorders and mental health problems. This type of education is not solely about passing along some information. It is also about learning skills for living with your condition, so it is a recognized part of the therapeutic process.
Goals of psychoeducation
What's the purpose of psychoeducation? And why would you want to bother with it anyway? When your therapist, psychiatrist, or other mental health team engages you in psychoeducation, they typically have the following four goals in mind.
Giving information
First, it's important to know the name of your diagnosed condition. It can be a big relief to know that others have suffered in similar ways and that treatments are available for countless mental health conditions. No matter what you are going through, you are not alone.
Upon diagnosis, you might not know much about your condition. Even if you've heard of it, the information you received from the media or online may be confusing or unreliable. The first goal of psychoeducation is to teach you and possibly your friends and family what the diagnosis really means and what it means for you specifically.
You'll learn several facts about your condition, including
Factors that contribute to the cause of the condition
Genetic
Biological
Environmental
Symptoms that people with the condition may have
Types of treatment
What you can expect in the future (the prognosis)
Mental health and releasing emotions
Another facet of psychoeducation is the opportunity to process feelings about the diagnosis. Because family and the individual with the condition often receive psychological education in separate groups, you'll have a chance to express feelings freely in your usual group.
As you release these uncomfortable emotions, you may reveal gaps in your understanding of the condition and its treatment. At this point, psychological education can help you understand your condition better by providing relevant facts. As time goes by, you'll be able to come to terms with all aspects of the mental health condition.
Supporting medication treatments and therapies
People who have never been diagnosed with a mental disorder before are typically unfamiliar with psychiatric medications and how they are an essential part of treatment for a lot of conditions. Even patients who have been taking psychiatric medications or maintenance chemotherapy for a long time need to learn more when they start taking something new.
In basic psychotherapeutic intervention for patients, you learn how and when to take your medication, what to do if you miss a dose, and what side effects you might experience. You might also learn how the medication works, how it will affect your body, and how it will help your mind. Furthermore, you may need to learn about any restrictions you might have when taking the medication. Common restrictions include not driving or operating heavy machinery, staying out of the sun, and avoiding certain foods. Not all medications have such restrictions, but it's important to know about them if they're relevant to you.
Teaching you to help yourself
With this specialty education, you can learn a lot about helping yourself. You can learn how to recognize negative symptoms as soon as possible and when to report them. In addition, your mental health practitioner can teach you self-help skills to diminish or alleviate symptoms. They can also teach you about lifestyle changes, and they can give strategies to accomplish those changes that can positively impact your wellbeing. To that end, they might suggest books for you to read about your condition, websites to visit, or support groups to attend. You can also consider looking into peer-reviewed journals like the International Journal of Psychiatry to find out more in-depth controlled study research about your condition and its treatment.
Learning skills from psychoeducation
In addition to factual information, you can learn some very helpful skills through psychoeducation in individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, or support groups. Generally, training is offered in four key areas, which are condition management, problem-solving, communications, and assertiveness. Family can also get involved too, especially when it comes to helping their loved ones with the most severe forms of mental illness. For example, while self-help strategies are available, patients with schizophrenia will still need a lot of support from their family in order to manage their symptoms and help them stay integrated into society.
Condition management
Psychoeducation can help you learn to recognize positive and negative symptoms of your mental health and manage your conditions by letting you learn what symptoms to report and whether those symptoms signal an urgent situation or if they can be mentioned at a routine doctor's appointment.
Communication
By learning to communicate more effectively, you can avoid frustration and unnecessary conflicts, work better with others, and let people know what's important to you. Communications training as a part of psychoeducation aims to teach you a life skill that also improves your condition.
Assertiveness training
Being assertive is the most effective way to address your needs without causing yourself or others additional problems. Assertiveness is about being clear and straightforward when communicating needs and wants. In assertiveness training, you learn to communicate your needs clearly without being aggressive, passive, or passive-aggressive. You learn to be clear and honest without being unfairly demanding.
Types of psychoeducation
There are several different settings where you might experience psychoeducation. Individual psychoeducation usually happens during therapy sessions. The therapist might explain things personally, or they might give you homework assignments so you can read books/pamphlets or view videos related to your condition. An example might be a schizophrenia bulletin for families of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia disorder. As mentioned before, family involvement is crucial in the management of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and reading medical literature like the schizophrenia bulletin can be of assistance in this process.
When providing professional advice, therapists might also might ask you to talk about how you feel, so you can process your emotions about your condition. At some point, they may use role-play or other techniques to give you training and practice in life skills. Some of these techniques are related to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is provided by most mental health services.
Condition-specific psychoeducational support groups
Family and group psychoeducation can be essential for supporting a person with serious mental illness, especially if they have specific conditions like a schizophrenic disorder. Admittance into a psychiatric hospital can seem overwhelming to anyone not familiar with the milieu, so again, family involvement is essential.
Finally, families of people who have mental conditions may be asked to gather for sessions, including for family intervention. They'll learn what the condition is and what it means for their loved one, how to help the person with the condition, and how to take care of their own needs at the same time. It can also be helpful to include caregivers if they're not part of the family.
Psychoeducational behavior therapy for bipolar disorder and more
Psychoeducation has no negative aspects when used in treating various mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Schizophrenia
You may have heard about people with psychotic disorders or seen stories about their lives. Maybe someone in your family has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is typically the most well-known and the central focus in these types of conditions.
The American Psychological Association defines schizophrenia as “a serious mental illness characterized by incoherent or illogical thoughts, bizarre behavior and speech, and delusions or hallucinations, such as hearing voices.” Because of the cognitive changes patients experience, many medical professionals recommend cognitive therapy and behavior therapy in addition to family psychoeducation. Social skills training can also be an important component in the treatment of schizophrenia since it can help keep them working and staying engaged with their communities.
Bipolar disorder
Likewise, patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder may be recommended for psychoeducation and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to assist them in developing coping strategies and increasing their communication skills effectiveness, which can also promote self-efficacy and improve their well-being.
Online therapy for psychoeducation
When you participate actively and honestly, you'll get the most out of it. Whether you meet with an in-person or online counselor, you can effectively learn new information, practice new skills, ask questions when you don't understand something, and consider how general information applies to you specifically.
If you want to learn more about your mental health condition, you can talk to a counselor right now. There are licensed therapists online at BetterHelp.com who can help you work through this process at a time and place most convenient for you. When a mental health condition complicates your life, psychoeducation gives you the tools to understand it better. Then you'll be able to manage it, so you can keep enjoying your life.
Takeaway
What is an example of psychoeducation?
Psychoeducation typically refers to interventions that teach and inform a patient or other stakeholders, such as their family, about the unique features related to their mental health condition. Psychoeducational interventions can be as simple as a face-to-face conversation or as complex as a structured learning program that teaches specific techniques to manage a certain condition.
One example might be a therapist initiating a dialogue with the family members of a patient with bipolar disorder. The therapist might explain how the condition affects the patient, what adverse effects might appear, and what their family can do to support them. Another example might be a highly structured intervention program that aims to teach patients with schizophrenia the foundations of their disorder, what treatments are available, and what resources are available for support. Psychoeducation is also commonly used to help those with obsessive-compulsive disorder learn proactive strategies to manage the intense feelings that can accompany an obsession, which often motivates them to engage in compulsions.
What are psychoeducational techniques?
Psychoeducational techniques typically include any strategy for effectively communicating information, skills, and resources to patients or their support network. Some common approaches to psychoeducation include:
- Education about mental health conditions. Helping patients understand the source of their mental health concerns, what treatments are available, and what resources they can access often helps them access the support they need to improve their symptoms.
- Development of practical skills. Teaching practical strategies to manage emotions, cope with stress, or develop resilience. This technique is often used within broader therapeutic methods like cognitive-behavioral therapy.
- Building self-care habits. Many people do not understand the importance of deliberate self-care, and teaching them what self-care is, why it matters, and what steps they can take to develop good self-care routines often helps support growth and recovery.
- Identifying community resources. Helping patients identify support groups, treatment centers, or other community resources that can help them manage their mental health conditions often helps them expand their support network.
- Involving family. Family psychoeducation often teaches a patient’s loved ones about their mental health condition, the impact it may have, and how the family can help support the patient, such as by engaging in relapse prevention strategies.
What is psychoeducation in CBT?
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps patients achieve meaningful change by investigating and changing the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. A significant component of CBT is the cognitive interventions therapists teach patients directly. A therapist cannot directly modify a patient’s thought process and must rely on teaching the patient step-by-step strategies for challenging and correcting maladaptive thought processes.
One example is cognitive restructuring, a technique where patients learn to identify “thinking traps” that promote negative thoughts. The therapist teaches the patient to recognize when they are engaging in a thinking trap and how to modify their thought process to bypass it, eventually replacing negative thoughts with more positive ones. Cognitive techniques like restructuring rely heavily on psychoeducation to be effective. Patients are also typically taught how thoughts, feelings, and behavior interact and how modifying one domain can cause change in another.
What are psychoeducational activities?
Psychoeducational activities generally include any efforts that help patients better understand their mental health condition, the factors surrounding it, available treatments, common intervention strategies, or anything else that may make their condition more manageable. Some common activities include:
- Face-to-face conversations discussing the mental health condition.
- Worksheets or assignments that help patients understand nuances surrounding their mental health.
- Activities that require the patient to independently complete research in a domain related to their mental health condition.
- Asking the patient to read books, handouts, or pamphlets that discuss their mental health condition.
- Having the patient watch or attend recorded or live lectures from experts in the patient’s mental health condition.
- Having the patient join a group where others can share the ways they manage their mental health conditions.
What is the main purpose of psychoeducation?
As with most psychological interventions, psychoeducation seeks to empower patients and their loved ones, reduce the burden of mental health symptoms, and help the patient achieve meaningful change. The topic and goals of psychoeducation typically vary considerably based on a patient's needs. For example, a therapist might teach problem-solving strategies to patients who find it challenging to determine their next steps. Another example might be a therapist helping patients understand how personality disorders can change how they see the world. Psychoeducation is also heavily utilized within family therapy, especially where members attend therapy specifically to support a loved one’s mental health condition.
What's another word for psychoeducation?
Other terms for psychoeducation might include patient education, therapeutic education, skill-building, or resource development. Psychoeducation is likely the most widely used term and can refer to basic conversations or highly structured intervention programs.
What is included in a psychoeducational evaluation?
A psychoeducational evaluation is most commonly performed when a school-age child or teen experiences difficulties at school. It might also be performed for a student encountering challenges in college or adults engaging in vocational rehabilitation programs. When psychoeducational evaluations are performed in school settings, they are typically undertaken by school psychologists, who are mental health professionals with special training in education and typically only licensed to practice within school settings. In clinical settings, a clinical psychologist often performs the evaluation. Generally, only psychologists are qualified to complete all assessments required for a psychoeducational evaluation.
In schools, where evaluations are most often performed, the goal is to determine whether a student meets the criteria for special education. School psychologists do not offer diagnoses; instead, they seek to determine whether a student falls within one of several special education verification categories. In clinical settings, a psychoeducational evaluation can be used to determine a diagnosis of a learning disability, ADHD, or other condition that may impact academic ability.
Common components of a psychological evaluation include:
- A systematic review of the student’s developmental, medical, socioemotional, family, and academic history.
- A cognitive function assessment that typically includes verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, visual-spatial processing, working memory, and processing speed.
- An academic achievement assessment that evaluates the student’s academic ability in many areas, including reading, writing, math, and more advanced subjects for older students.
- A socio-emotional assessment that evaluates the student's interactions with others, typical behavior, and social functioning.
- Additional evaluations specific to the student’s main concerns presented at their referral, such as assessments of functional abilities.
What are the disadvantages of psychoeducation?
Psychoeducation is commonly incorporated into and used alongside many different therapeutic approaches. Many types of therapy have some components that require a therapist to teach concepts or skills to a patient, but not all therapy types refer to those components of psychoeducation. While psychoeducation is typically thought to be a beneficial and effective intervention, it is rarely used alone. This may be because those with severe mental health concerns often struggle with thinking, concentration, and attention.
A professional can't be one hundred percent certain that their patient has understood and retained the information communicated to them, nor can they be certain that the patient will apply the concepts correctly. Because of this, many structured educational interventions include components to measure understanding, such as tests, quizzes, or practical demonstrations. Despite this, patients may still struggle to apply psychoeducational concepts without additional assistance.
What is the psychoeducational theory in the classroom?
Psychoeducational programs are often used extensively in schools to help students learn age-appropriate behaviors and social skills. They may also help students build self-esteem and confidence. Many of these programs are highly structured, allowing them to be administered by staff who may not be qualified as socio-emotional experts or mental health professionals. However, many schools give the task to school counselors and school psychologists to improve program fidelity.
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