Emotion regulation and psychosis v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised controlled experimental investigation of an emotion regulation skills training on paranoia and related distress in a clinical psychosis population.
IRAS ID
229624
Contact name
Amanda L Woodrow
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Edinburgh Napier University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
This study is interested in the link between childhood trauma and psychosis. There is already good evidence that experiencing difficult events in childhood can lead to later psychosis, but researchers are not yet sure how or why this happens. One idea is that our emotions play an important part. Traumatic events in early life might have an effect on how we learn to understand and cope with our emotions. By not learning to process our emotions we might become more vulnerable to experiencing voice hearing (hallucinations) and fears of harm from others (paranoid thinking). If this is true, improving our ability to cope with our emotions should improve the experience of symptoms.
In order to test this, the study will recruit a sample of participants who are currently experiencing psychosis and randomise them to one of two groups. One group will take part in a series of emotion regulation skills workshops which should help with identifying emotions and improving self-awareness. The other group will take part in a series of arts and crafts workshops which will teach practical skills, but will not contain any emotion related content. The workshops will take place on NHS premises and will be delivered by trained staff.
We will measure participants’ experience of symptoms and their related levels of distress before and after the workshops to investigate any changes. The measurements will collected using a novel method which incorporates a smartphone app. This enables participants to respond immediately and let us know how they are feeling. This should give us a better understanding of how symptoms change over time and will help us identify whether one of the groups has been more successful than the other.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
18/SS/0065
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion