Delusions of persecution in psychiatric patients can be reduced with just six sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a new clinical trial has found. Using CBT in this way could potentially help to prevent mental illnesses occurring in at-risk people.
The study, published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, was carried out by researchers at the Universities of Southampton, Oxford and Manchester and was funded by the UK's Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme.
Persecutory delusions are unrealistic beliefs that others are intentionally trying to harm the person. This severe paranoia is a key problem in many mental health conditions, including schizophrenia.
Professor David Kingdon at the University of Southampton, a researcher in the trial team, said: "This intervention is very timely in view of the introduction of access and waiting standards for early psychosis and development of psychosis pathways. The hope is that there is not a large gap in time between the research showing it works and people actually getting it in services."
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