The Relationship Between Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Maintenance Processes, Emotional Distress, and Positive Psychotic Symptoms: Evidence That CBT Is “Not a Quasi-Neuroleptic”

Abstract

Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp) has enjoyed a steep rise in popularity over the past 15 years; however, recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have concluded that CBTp has only modest effects on psychotic syndrome outcomes and that empirical evidence of its superiority over other psychosocial treatments is poor. And although it has been argued by some prominent authors that CBTp is not designed to alleviate the “psychotic syndrome,” there is little empirical evidence linking CBTp change mechanisms with syndrome versus single-symptom outcome measures. This study investigated the relationship between CBTp change processes, beliefs about voices, and thought control strategies, with a range of outcome measures including global positive psychotic symptoms in a sample of 40 voice hearers with established diagnosis of psychotic disorder. Consistent with the assertions of Birchwood and Trower (2006), global positive symptoms were found to be generally poorly related to CBTp change processes. Conversely, these CBTp change processes were found to be generally strongly related to measures of emotional distress and some measures of single psychotic symptoms. The implications for past and future CBTp treatment outcome studies are discussed.