Cognitive Therapy for Negative Symptoms and Functioning

This is a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of adjunctive cognitive behavioral therapy for negative symptoms and functioning in chronic outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. After a baseline assessment to ensure eligibility, seventy-five consenting patients will be randomly assigned to receive a year of cognitive therapy (CT) or to a treatment as usual (TAU) control condition. Measures of symptomatology (positive, negative and affective), functioning, neurocognition and negativistic beliefs will be administered to all participants during five formal assessment sessions to occur at 6-month intervals over the course of a two-year period. The first assessment session (Baseline) will occur shortly after (i.e., within a week, though typically on the same day) informed consent is given. If the participant qualifies for the study and is consents to randomization, assessments identical to the baseline in content will occur 6, 12, 18 and 24 months later. All evaluators will be blind to participant treatment condition at the time of assessment.

The cognitive behavioral treatment will, in a collaborative and problem solving manner, target inaccurate or overly pessimistic expectations and thoughts about social and non-social performance. This psychosocial intervention will also target beliefs and attitudes that are related to positive symptoms which, in turn, exacerbate negative symptoms and impair functioning. We hypothesize that patients in the CT condition will have lower negative symptom levels and elevated functioning as compared to the TAU patients at the post-treatment assessment. Additionally, we expect that CT-treated patients will continue to improve over the follow-up period and, thereby, to continue to manifest lowered negative symptoms and elevated levels of functioning relative to TAU patients.

While research over the past 10 years has demonstrated the efficacy of CT as an adjunct intervention in the treatment of schizophrenia, negative symptoms have not been targeted directly, nor has an emphasis been placed upon improving functional outcomes. Given that negative symptoms and functioning are particularly refractory in this population, there is a need for treatment innovation. In this vein, our previous research (Grant & Beck, 2006) established that defeatist attitudes regarding social and non-social performance are important mediators in the causal chains that link neurocognitive performance, negative symptoms, and functional outcomes in schizophrenia. The current trial, thus, aims to move therapy for schizophrenia forward by improving long-term outcomes for some of the most impaired individuals in psychiatric service.

Inclusion criteria

• Outpatient diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder
• Prominent negative symptoms (i.e., two global subscales rated "moderate" or higher on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms
• Proficiency in English
• Able to give informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Neurologic disease or damage
• Systematic medical illnesses that may compromise neurocognitive functioning (e.g., insulin dependent diabetes, heart disease)
• History of head injury or documented loss of consciousness
• Physical handicaps that would interfere with assessment procedures