Reviewing and modifying beliefs in people who hear voices
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A pilot study of a two session responsibility intervention for auditory hallucinations.
IRAS ID
212222
Contact name
Rosanna Michalczuk
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 3 days
Research summary
Existing psychological theories of psychosis (people who hear voices) propose a significant role of anxiety and anxiety processes such as worry and uncertainty, in the development and maintenance of psychosis (Garety et al., 2001). A large proportion of people with psychosis who hear voices (25%) have also been shown to experience symptoms of OCD (people who perform certain routines/have certain thoughts repeatedly), and many of the same thinking processes seem to be influential in psychosis, for example, threat perception, compulsive behaviours and sense of responsibility (Luzon et al., 2009). The concept of responsibility in this context refers to unrealistic beliefs a person has about their role in causing or preventing a catastrophe, these beliefs drives people to engage in unhelpful behaviours and causes distress. People with psychosis have shown to experience great levels of heightened responsibility and this has been linked to greater psychotic symptoms, distress, unhelpful behaviours and poor well-being (Abbas et al., 2012). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for OCD has been shown to reduce responsibility belief and as a result reduce compulsions people were doing in an attempt to minimise a potential catastrophe for which they felt responsible for. CBT is the recommended treatment of choice for both OCD and psychosis, and indeed they share many common factors. This study builds on previous research, which has started to identify psychological techniques for targeting unrealistic responsibility beliefs in psychosis. It will recruit nine participants who are already having CBT for psychosis (CBTp), and will add two dedicated sessions using empirically validated strategies that are effective in reducing responsibility beliefs. This study will evaluate the feasibility of integrating these techniques in routine clinical practice and will report on outcomes relating to belief and behavioural change, associated distress, and psychological well-being.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1439
Date of REC Opinion
20 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion