Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychosis relies on the same principles as general CBT (see CBT modality tab for more details). However, some of the specific techniques slightly vary and there is a significant amount of time dedicated to exploring the person’s individual experience during the assessment phase.

Psychosis is a symptom of several mental health disorders. However, it can also be a symptom related to extreme experiences (i.e. severe lack of sleep, severe over-exertion, trauma, untreated medical conditions, etc).

CBTp is meant to help a person live with ongoing symptoms of psychosis that have not been fully addressed through the use of medications or other forms of treatment. CBTp specifically targets both hallucinations (most commonly auditory hallucinations or ‘voices’) and delusional belief systems (fixed beliefs that are false but to the person present as extremely real). The goal of the therapy is not to reduce these symptoms, but rather to help the person develop ways to cope with them that can then improve their overall quality of life. However, when the impact of these symptoms is reduced, there often is a reduction in the experience of the symptom itself (for example, if I am no longer as troubled when I hear a voice, then the number of voices or the intensity of them does tend to naturally reduce).

For CBTp to be an effective form of treatment, a person does need to have some level of awareness (aka insight) that their experiences are not rooted in reality (i.e. the person can recognize at least partially that they are experiencing auditory hallucinations or that their belief system may not be entirely accurate). Essentially, there has to be some “wiggle room” to consider alternative explanations. The co-creation of alternative explanations, the increased use of coping skills, the ability to challenge thoughts related to their experiences, and goal setting and achievement are all used to help the person create a life worth living despite ongoing symptoms.