CBT for Psychosis

Abstract

Comments on an article "Cognitive-behavioural therapy in first-episode and early schizophrenia: 18-month follow up of a randomised controlled trial," by N. Tarrier et al (2004). The authors conclusion is confusing. After clearly demonstrating no superior effect for cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) over supportive counselling on measures of symptom reduction and relapse rates, the authors conclude their paper by stating that they 'suggest that the optimum psychosocial management of early schizophrenia would include a combination of CBT and family intervention'. Authors refer to their sample as being diagnosed with 'early schizophrenia' throughout the paper. But unless the authors specify illness duration, the criterion of 'early' cannot be asserted. Thus, this appears to be a study of patients within 2 years of their first episode of nonaffective psychoses and not those with early schizophrenia (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)