On the Oxford University Press blog, Brown University professor of psychiatry and psychology Brandon Gaudiano weighs in on some of the long-term problems with antipsychotic medications and recent studies using therapy as a response to problematic psychosis symptoms.
“So if antipsychotics can offer diminishing returns over time for many patients, what else can be done?” asks Gaudiano. “There are now a large number of studies conducted with thousands of patients in different countries showing that adding psychotherapy, such as CBT, to a person’s treatment produces better clinical outcomes compared with medications alone… But the Lancet study, showing that CBT can be beneficial even when patients are not taking antipsychotics, is challenging this conventional wisdom.”
Can schizophrenia really be treated by “talk therapy” alone? (OUPBlog, June 25, 2015)