An Overview of CBT for Psychosis: Dialogue and Collaborative Exploration on the Edge of Reality

People undergoing psychosis are typically wandering through bewildering mental territory, and it’s easy for us to get lost when we try relating with their experience. To feel less lost, we might be tempted to hold tight to our own beliefs and professional knowledge, categories, and jargon: but this creates a rigidity that impairs our chances of forming a good connection with the person we want to help. What might work better?

CBT for psychosis emphasizes the formation of a collaborative relationship, and then taking a fresh look at the evidence together. The CBT practitioner does not impo...Read morese a point of view, but rather joins with the person in a process of shared discovery of possible ways of making sense, and an exploration of the implications of different perspectives.

At the heart of this process is the creation of dialogue, or bringing different points of view into relationship. This is important because dialogue, both internally and interpersonally, is something that breaks down in psychosis. This breakdown leaves the person either stuck in a fixed point of view or monologue, or overwhelmed by the chaos of competing views that seem beyond relationship. But when we find a way to talk with people in an open-minded way about their most confusing experiences, dialogue can reemerge, and helpful ways of making sense can be developed. Less...

Learning Objectives

• Identify the creation of dialogue as a “minimal agenda” within CBT for psychosis that can organize sessions even when barriers exist to more organized approaches.
• Discuss the relationship between external dialogue, such as between therapist and client, and healthy internal dialogue.
• Describe basic CBT for psychosis methods, including normalizing, developing a formulation, changing relationships with voices, flexible approaches to inflexible beliefs, and overcoming negative symptoms by focusing on meaning and connection.

Friday, April 08, 2022

08:30 AM PDT - 12:30 PM PDT