Metacognitive narrative psychotherapy for people with schizophrenia: the first phase of a longitudinal study.
Psychotherapy continues to be controversial in the treatment of people with schizophrenia. However, a recent innovation in the psychotherapy of schizophrenia, which has drawn upon narrative understandings of the self and psychotic illness, has reignited interest in the potential value of psychotherapy in the treatment of people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Lysaker and his colleagues propose that an integrative psychotherapy, which encourages the re-emergence of internal dialogue through external dialogue, improves capacities for metacognition and facilitates the development of more coherent, richer narratives in individuals suffering with schizophrenia, which in turn assists in the recovery process. We report on 7 participants who have been recruited into the study. Participants have been evaluated in terms of narrative coherence and richness, metacognitive capacity, symptom severity and degree of recovery. The manualisation of the therapy will be described, the relationship between key variables at 6 months follow-up will be presented, and therapist experiences of working with people with schizophrenia is discussed
