Reviews of cognitive behaviour therapy in schizophrenia indicate that evaluations are mainly case studies or uncontrolled trials.3 — 5 Four controlled trials have suggested that cognitive behavioural interventions can result in a reduction of
psychotic and associated
symptoms that are
resistant to medication in chronic schizophrenia, 6 — 9 and a single trial has shown reduction of
symptoms in acute schizophrenia.10 Although these trials are small and all suffer methodological limitations, particularly a lack of blind assessment, they represent encouraging evidence that cognitive behavioural interventions can have considerable benefits in reducing persistent hallucinations and delusions.