Antipsychotic drugs versus cognitive behavioural therapy versus a combination of both in people with psychosis: a randomised controlled pilot and feasibility study.

Background: Little evidence is available for head-to-head comparisons of psychosocial interventions and pharmacological interventions in psychosis. We aimed to establish whether a randomised controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) versus antipsychotic drugs versus a combination of both would be feasible in people with psychosis.

Methods: We did a single-site, single-blind pilot randomised controlled trial in people with psychosis who used services in National Health Service trusts across Greater Manchester, UK.

Do people with psychosis engage in unhelpful metacognitive coping strategies? A test of the validity of the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS) in a clinical sample.

The Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model assumes that unhelpful metacognitive coping strategies characterised by worry, rumination, threat monitoring and attempts to control thoughts, have a central role in psychological disorders and prolonged negative affect. Collectively, these strategies constitute the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS). This research aims to test whether a questionnaire designed to capture these responses (the CAS-1: Wells, 2009, p.

The role of cognitive and metacognitive factors in non-clinical paranoia and negative affect.

Objectives: It is increasingly accepted that paranoia lies on a continuum of severity that can be observed in the general population. Several psychological factors have been implicated in the development of more distressing persecutory ideas including negative affect (i.e.

Are experiences of psychosis associated with unhelpful metacognitive coping strategies? A systematic review of the evidence.

This review investigated whether unhelpful metacognitive coping strategies, such as attentional biases, worry, rumination, and thought control, are associated with experiences of psychosis. These processes, known collectively as the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS), form a central tenet of the Self-Regulatory Executive Function model. Three research questions based on assumptions underlying the CAS were addressed.

The role of unhelpful metacognitive beliefs in psychosis: Relationships with positive symptoms and negative affect.

The Self-Regulatory Executive Function (s-REF) model assumes that a common set of unhelpful metacognitive beliefs have a central role in predisposition to psychological disorder and the maintenance of symptoms and distress. This research aims to test whether the five unhelpful metacognitive beliefs implicated in the model are associated with positive symptoms of psychosis and whether they are a better predictor of negative affect than topological characteristics of positive symptoms. A sample of people with psychosis completed a semi-structured interview about psychotic symptoms and self-report measures of metacognitive beliefs (MCQ-30), anxiety and depression.

A meta-analysis of metacognitive beliefs as implicated in the self-regulatory executive function model in clinical psychosis.

This meta-analysis investigated whether the five metacognitive beliefs implicated in the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model (Wells and Matthews, 1994; Wells and Matthews, 1996) are elevated in people with clinical psychosis compared to people with emotional disorder and non-psychiatric controls. The review followed guidance set-out in the PRISMA statement. Primary analyses compared summary effect sizes on each sub-scale of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ) for people with psychosis and non-psychiatric controls; and people with psychosis and people with emotional disorder.