Processes of change in Cognitive Analytic Therapy (version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An examination of specific techniques of CAT and their impact on insight and symptom change.
IRAS ID
193807
Contact name
Rebecca Tyrer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 10 days
Research summary
Research Question: What techniques used in Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) help bring about change?
Why: CAT has been used in the NHS since the 1980s for a range of psychological difficulties. Although outcome research shows that it leads to improvement, how change occurs is not well understood.
What: CAT is a structured therapy, with different techniques (for example a “reformulation letter” which describes the problems) used at different stages of the therapy. We hope to track changes in how much people understand their problems (insight) and the changes they make in therapy (e.g. feelings that improve) to see if these relate to particular techniques.
Who: Therapists who are trained to use CAT (or still in training) will be asked to identify clients from their caseload and establish informed consent for use of their data. We hope to have complete information for 6 clients by the end of the study.
Where: Therapy and data collection will be undertaken in NHS adult psychological therapy services.
How: Therapists will gather the information (the measures of therapy process and outcome that they and the client complete) as part of the therapy and keep that information in the clients’ files. CAT usually lasts for 16 or 24 sessions with 5 follow-up sessions. Measures will be collected throughout therapy and at the first follow up session therefore data collection for each client will take between 7 and 9 months. Therapists will be asked for a pen portrait (some information about the background) of their clients at the end of therapy. All data used in this case series design will be anonymised. However, if insufficient data is collected we will recruit clients to complete an optional client change interview (CCI) to identify change process.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0417
Date of REC Opinion
7 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion