Cognitive Therapy for Delusions, Voices and Paranoia

Abstract

The aim of this book is to guide . . . professionals towards better practice by treating the individual symptoms of delusions, voices and paranoia, rather than by the categorisation of schizophrenia. The authors provide an introduction to their cognitive model and show how therapy depends crucially on the collaborative relationship with the client. While earlier approaches to these distressing symptoms depended on an overall model of schizophrenia which emphasised fundamental discontinuities with normal thought and psychological processes, the authors' approach is supported by substantial research that indicates that delusions, voices and paranoia lie on a continuum of differences in thought and behaviour, and do not arise from fundamentally different psychological processes. This book offers a practical, research-based . . . approach to the assessment and treatment of psychotic disorders and also an argument for the development of a person model for treatment, which is based on the person's enduring psychological vulnerabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)