NCT04990414

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Voices and Dissociation

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Voices and Dissociation: A Case Series

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 19 (actual)
• Sponsor: Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 16 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Case series design with participants with psychosis with a history of interpersonal trauma/abuse and current distressing auditory verbal hallucinations and dissociative experience. Participants were offered up to 24 therapy sessions over a 6-month intervention window.

Detailed description

Objectives: Previous studies have suggested that dissociation might represent an important mechanism in the maintenance of auditory verbal hallucinations (i.e., voices) in people who have a history of traumatic life experiences. This study investigated whether a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for psychosis augmented with techniques specifically targeting dissociative symptoms could improve both dissociation and auditory hallucination severity in a sample of voice hearers with psychosis and a history of interpersonal trauma (e.g., exposure to sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse). Design: Case series. Methods: A total of 19 service users with psychosis were offered up to 24 therapy sessions over a 6-month intervention window. Participants were assessed four times over a 12-month period using measures of dissociation, psychotic symptoms severity, and additional secondary mental-health and recovery measures.

Conditions

• Schizophrenia
• Psychological Trauma
• Dissociation
• Hallucinations

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Cognitive Behavioural Therapy	Sessions 1-4 were focused on engagement, assessment of presenting problems, identification of treatment goals and normalization/ psychoeducation. Sessions 5- 14, focused on techniques to manage dissociative responses and/or increase perceived controllability of dissociation. Although further work on dissociation and/or trauma was encouraged, the targets for intervention in subsequent sessions (15-22) and the strategies selected depended on individual formulation of clients' difficulties and negotiation with the client. This could include re-appraisals on negative beliefs about dissociative experiences, cognitive and/or behavioural change strategies targeting core appraisals of voices leading to related distress, trauma-related techniques (e.g., imagery techniques,), or consolidation of a developmental/longitudinal psychological formulation of the client's difficulties. The final two sessions focused on plans for relapse prevention and maintenance of gains.

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-11-24
• Primary completion: 2019-01-29
• Completion: 2019-01-29
• First posted: 2021-08-04
• Last updated: 2021-08-04