Psychological therapies: CBT

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy –  Patients are encouraged to trace back the origins of their symptoms in order to get a better idea of how the symptoms might have developed. Patients are also set behavioural assignments with the aim of improving their general level of functioning.  The therapist allows the patient to develop their own alternatives to previous maladaptive beliefs, using alternative explanations and coping strategies.  OUTCOME STUDIES - measure how well a patient does after treatment. They suggest that patients who receive CBT experience fewer hallucinations and delusions & also recover their functioning to a greater extent than those who receive antipsychotic medication alone.  Drury et al. (1996) found benefits in terms of a reduction of positive symptoms and a 25-50% reduction in recovery time for patient given a combination of antipsychotics and CBT.  Kuipers et al. (1997) supported this and also found there were lower patient dropout rates and greater satisfaction. 

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