BBFT Sample Schedule
An 18-week sample curriculum for the Bifurcated Behavioral Family Therapy program.
Psychoeducation, mapping & processing
The first month grounds the family in the biological reality of the illness and allows them to process grief, while the patient maps their role in the family system.
- Week 1The genogram
Co-creating a multi-generational family map identifying patterns of mental illness, coping styles, and emotional cut-offs.
- Week 2Identifying roles
Exploring the patient's assigned role ("the fragile one," "the identified patient") and how the family organizes around their symptoms.
- Week 3Triggers & system anxiety
Mapping family interactions that precede symptom exacerbation and what family anxiety feels like in the patient's body.
- Week 4The illness as a third entity
Separating core identity from diagnosis; framing psychosis as a third entity in the room both patient and family must manage.
- Week 1The illness & the stakes
Neurobiology of schizophrenia, the vulnerability-stress model, dangers of untreated psychosis, and how repeated relapse erodes cognitive baseline (kindling).
- Week 2Medications & holistic support
How antipsychotics work, side effects such as weight gain and akathisia, why non-adherence happens, and supporting sleep and substance reduction without becoming a warden.
- Week 3Processing caregiver trauma
Processing the first break and hospitalizations. Role-play: validating each other's grief without fixing it or defaulting to toxic positivity.
- Week 4Ambiguous loss
Mourning the life expected for a loved one who is still physically present.