Individual and group cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychotic disorders: a pilot investigation

The present study is an uncontrolled pilot investigation of individual and group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with positive symptoms of psychosis (n = 6). While previous studies have utilized either individual or group CBT for schizophrenia, the present investigation is the first to include both components for patients in the chronic phase of a psychotic illness. The results of this pilot study suggest that this approach may be useful for both positive and negative symptoms of psychosis. In addition, depression, anxiety, and hopelessness scores all decreased dramatically. The majority of the gains made during treatment were maintained over an 11-month follow-up period. A combined CBT treatment program may offer benefits in terms of delusional thinking, depression, and anxiety when used as an adjunctive treatment to medication. While the present study demonstrated positive effects from treatment, results are limited by the small sample size.