The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as a Treatment for Schizophrenia: Current Issues and the Future

Özet

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been widely practised as a method of addressing both negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The treatment is combined with other forms of medication for increased efficiency. Clinicians use behavioural concepts to address the underlying problems in patients. The objective of this present review was to conduct a systematic review aimed at explaining the current issues and advancements in the application of CBT in the treatment of schizophrenia. The scope of the study was limited to the cognitive behavioural treatment of schizophrenia. The research focused on the current issues and the advancements in the CBT treatment of schizophrenia. The methodology used in this present review involved the use of secondary sources from a number of few databases, the majority being those published in the social science citation index (SSCI). The selection criteria were based on the relevance as well as the currency time of publication with exceptions in cases where the only publication available was not within the time-frame of the selection criteria. The selection of literature was done by searching for the journals which were indexed in the SSCI and a few that were indexed in the PubMed database. This present review reveals that CBT as a treatment of schizophrenia is an effective method of addressing the symptoms of schizophrenia. CBT was used to address issues such as delusion, hallucination, and co-morbidity among other negative and positive symptoms. However, the measure of the level of effectiveness remains a concern that is yet to be addressed. In addition to that, little is known about the long term effects of CBT in the treatment of schizophrenia.