Schizophrenia (and other psychotic disorders) cognitive-behaviour therapy research programme : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
Loading...
Date
2006
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a treatment that combined techniques from Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to alleviate the psychological distress and symptom severity resultant from psychotic-type disorders. This treatment (EVoLVE Therapy: an acronym for Exposing Virtues of Living Valued Existences) was designed to primarily target the psychological distress associated with psychotic disorders and secondarily to facilitate improvement in psychotic-type symptoms. Participants in this study were selected based on previous diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective, and other psychiatric disorders with psychotic features. Seven participants, who had each been long-term consumers of mental health services, completed 10 weeks of therapy. Post-graduate students, in training to become professional psychologists, delivered supervised therapy using a structured treatment manual written by the researcher. Pre-treatment, post-treatment and 5-week follow-up data were collected, using a variety of measures to assess the effectiveness of treatment. Results were quite positive overall, with some clients making considerable improvements in a number of domains. All 7 participants showed a decrease in symptom severity after treatment. In addition, 6 out of the 7 participants reported an improved quality of life following treatment. Marked improvement in negative affect was also evident, with a slight improvement in positive affect noted.
Description
Keywords
Schizophrenia, Psychoses, Treatment, Cognitive therapy