Why it is important to do this review
Despite national treatment guidelines recommending CBT as an adjunct therapy for serious mental illness (NICE 2009), it is still not as widely available for people with schizophrenia as it is for people with other disorders (for example, depression and panic disorder).
The first case report of CBT for delusional beliefs in 1952, reported by Beck 2005, did not lead to widespread development of CBT for schizophrenia or its symptoms. Psychological interventions have become more widely accepted over the past two decades and are now seen as part of a comprehensive set of routine interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia (NICE 2009; Turkington 2004). However, the availability of CBT and other evidence-based therapies on the NHS is extremely limited, despite government efforts to improve access. Waiting times of more than a year are commonplace (Bird 2006). The delivery of CBT to people with schizophrenia also depends upon having a commitment from health service managers to support and facilitate training and supervision (Turkington 2004).
Since the publication of the original Cochrane review of 'Cognitive behavioural therapy for schizophrenia' (Jones 2004) there has been a substantial increase in the number of published and relevant clinical trials, and a refinement in the definition and working models of CBT. In addition, there has also been a diversification of research, with trials not only assessing overall effectiveness but investigating more specific aspects of CBT. Updating and splitting the original review of CBT to create a family of CBT reviews (see Jones 2009a and Jones 2009b) to incorporate and address this new more diverse data is necessary. This particular review will provide information about CBT's relative effectiveness compared with other similar adjunct psychosocial therapies.