EFFECTS OF RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOIUR THERAPY AND PSYCHOEDUCATION ON SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS

Abstract

The study examined the effects of rational emotive behavior therapy and psychoeducation among schizophrenic patients. Patients of age range 18 to 59 years with mean age of 34.65 and standard deviation of 11.31were selected from Neuro-psychiatric hospital, Nwafia. One instrument was used for the study: the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale developed by Overall and Gorham (1962) and validated in Nigeria. The study was an experimental study and repeated measure design was used. Pair wise t-test was employed as the statistical tool for data analyses. The result indicated a significant reduction in psychiatric symptoms in patients treated with REBT compared with the control at (t (19) =10.19, P<.0001. The second hypothesis which stated that schizophrenic patients who received REBT plus psychoeducation will show significantly lower psychiatric symptoms when compared with the control was confirmed at t (19) =12.11 p <.0001. The third hypothesis which stated that schizophrenic patients who receive REBT plus psychoeducation will show reduced psychiatric symptoms when compared with those that receive REBT alone was confirmed at t (19) = 7.21 p<.0001.This reveals that the combination of REBT and psychoeducation yielded better results. This study therefore recommends a combination of rational emotive behavior therapy and psychoeducation in the treatment of psychiatric symptoms among schizophrenic patients.