• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy involves talking through these irrational thoughts. The patient is encouraged to describe their thoughts and the therapist then helps the patient to challenge the reality of these thoughts
• The therapist may also help the patient tackle their symptoms from the behavioural angle (by teaching coping skills) and the emotional angle (teaching relaxation methods) CBT is commonly used in combination with antipsychotic drug therapy
AO3-supporting evidence
e.g. a meta-analysis of 14 studies involving 1484 schizophrenic patients by Zimmerman et al (2005) found CBT significantly reducedpositive symptoms of the disorder
AO3-Low risk of side effects
By comparison, antipsychotic drugs carry a risk of serious and potentially fatalside effects such as pyramidal symptoms
AO3-Conflicting evidence
- however, a meta analysis by Jauhar et al (2014) found CBT only had minor effects on schizophrenic symptoms
AO3-Not suitable for all
Some patients may be too paranoid or anxious to develop a trusting alliance with a therapist and so are not suitable candidates for CBT
