Cognitive therapy for schizophrenia: a preliminary randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The aim of the current study was to assess whether patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia and experiencing persistent positive and negative symptoms improve with the addition of cognitive-behavioural therapy to enriched standard treatment. METHODS: A controlled study was completed with 42 patients randomized to either cognitive-behavioural therapy plus enriched treatment-as-usual (CBT-ETAU) (n = 24) or enriched treatment-as-usual only (ETAU) (n = 18). Enriched treatment-as-usual comprised comprehensive treatment within specialised schizophrenia treatment services. Cognitive-behavioural therapy was conducted on an individual basis for 6 months (20 sessions). Clinical assessments were done at pretreatment, posttreatment and at 6-month follow-up by raters blind to group allocation. RESULTS: Significant clinical effects were observed for positive, negative and overall symptom severity for patients treated in CBT-ETAU, although there were no statistically significant differences between the treatment groups at posttreatment. The most pronounced effect of CBT-ETAU in comparison to ETAU in this study was in the reduction of negative symptoms at follow-up. CONCLUSION: These results show promise for the impact of CBT on negative symptoms when explicitly targeted in treatment.