Mindfulness for Paranoia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Group mindfulness-based therapy for distressing persecutory delusions: A pilot study for a randomised controlled trial.
IRAS ID
188531
Contact name
Paul Chadwick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Many people with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia experience persecutory delusions, thinking that other people are intentionally trying to harm or kill them. Persecutory delusions are often associated with high levels of depression and distress. Psychological interventions that use mindfulness, a form of meditation, are being used to help people who experience mental health problems. Until recently, these interventions have rarely been made available to people with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, despite the significant level of need within this group. Our research team have adapted mindfulness meditation for people who hear distressing voices
and have developed a mindfulness-based group therapy. This therapy has been found to be beneficial as voice hearers reported reduced distress, and improved psychological health. However, very little research has been done to examine whether mindfulness-based therapies are helpful for people who experience persecutory delusions.
This study will recruit approximately 40 individuals who experience persecutory delusions as their primary psychotic symptom. Half of the service users will receive mindfulness-based therapy offered in a group format over a 12-session period. The other half will receive the treatment they usually receive from their mental health teams, to determine whether the therapy group reduces depression and distress, improves psychological health and results in greater progress towards recovery.
Before we can answer this question in a fully-sized trial we first need to conduct a pilot study, which will tell us: (a) the approximate difference in outcome between mindfulness and usual treatment, (b) how easily we can recruit to the study, and (c) how many people drop out. This information will allow us to know how many participants we need for the full trial, how long recruitment will take and how to reduce drop-out rates.REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1685
Date of REC Opinion
18 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion