The impact of DBT skills training for people with psychosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of DBT skills training for people with psychosis
IRAS ID
244247
Contact name
Daniel Silva
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Psychosis is a pervasive and enduring mental health presentation characterised by difficulties in interpreting reality. The primary two symptoms (i.e. positive symptoms) of psychosis are: paranoia and hallucinations. This condition has been associated with mood and anxiety disorders, both as precursors of positive psychotic symptoms and as strong predictors of relapse. However, most of the research in this area has neglected the importance of emotions due to its historical classification as a non-affective disorder.
Interventions for psychosis focusing on management of positive symptoms have varied success rates. In addition, research in this area has moved towards addressing specific symptoms rather than psychosis generally. And therefore, more recent studies have tried to further understand the role of emotion regulation in precipitating and maintaining paranoia and hallucinations. Such studies have argued that individuals with psychosis have difficulties with: acceptance of negative affect, are more likely to have difficulties using cognitive reappraisal techniques and are over reliant on affect suppression.
The literature in this area is still new and even though there is a growing evidence of the role of emotion regulation in psychosis, no clinical trials have considered the effectiveness of emotion regulation skills training in the management of psychosis. Dialectical Behavioural Therapy has been developed with a core focus on developing emotion regulation skills and has a growing evidence base for: borderline personality disorder, addictions, anger, eating disorders. However, it has never been formally researched for the treatment of psychosis.The study aims to use a single-case series design to examine if DBT training skills reduces levels of paranoia and distress in individuals with symptoms of psychosis (i.e. paranoia). Participants will be asked to take part in 8 individual sessions and monitor their paranoia and mood throughout 8 weeks.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0379
Date of REC Opinion
28 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion