“There’s a lot of effort in the schizophrenia field to help people through what’s called cognitive remediation, which is basically a bottom-up process of learning, memory and attention,” Grant said. “But we think that having interventions that target positive and negative beliefs, along with goals, would be key in terms of helping the individuals have better lives, the lives that they want.” One intervention is called recovery-oriented cognitive therapy (CT-R), a hands-on, active approach that focuses on life aspirations, successful goal achievement, development of resiliency in the face of stressful symptoms and life events, all to promote positive beliefs and neutralize negative attitudes. CT-R was created by Grant, along with Aaron T. Beck, MD, an emeritus professor in the department of Psychiatry at Penn, and co-author on the study.
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A June 2017 study in the journal Psychiatric Services, authored by this same team, found that CT-R is effective in individuals with schizophrenia who are functioning poorly. The study was a follow up to a randomized clinical trail and showed that participants who received CT-R for 18 months, as compared to those who received standard treatment (e.g., anti-psychotic medications, case management), showed major improvements in daily functioning, motivation and psychotic symptoms that endured after the therapy was completed. Importantly, those with the longest course of illness showed improvement by the end of the study.