Psychological therapies and psychosocial interventions have a role to play in supporting recovery from
psychosis through a range of heterogeneous aims such as enhancing coping, reducing emotional distress,
facilitating knowledge, insight and understanding, improving communication, increasing quality of life and
engagement in meaningful activities, and minimising the impact of symptoms or impairments on functioning.
Psychological therapies refer to a range of interventions, based on psychological concepts and theory,
which are designed to help people understand and make changes to their thinking, emotion, behaviour and
interpersonal relationships in order to relieve emotional distress and to improve functioning.
Psychological therapies differ from pharmacological interventions in that the principal aim is not necessarily
the reduction in psychotic experiences such as hearing voices or paranoia.130 Psychological therapies may
also influence key factors in vulnerability to, and persistence of, psychosis. A number of processes including
stressful life events, the person’s environment, the reactions of family and friends, and the person’s thinking
and behaviour play an important role in shaping recovery from schizophrenia.131 Psychological therapies
have been developed to address these specific needs in relation to recovery.