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Traditional Workshop

Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders

Traditional Workshop 5 - Cognitive-behavioural Approaches for People with Complex Presentations of Psychosis

Friday, June 26, 2026
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM PDT
Location: Pacific I, 4th Floor
Earn 3 Credit
Ticketed Session
Keywords: Psychosis / Psychotic Disorders, Substance Abuse, Suicide
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Haddock, G., Eisner, E., Davies, G., Coupe, N., & Barrowclough, C. (2013). Psychotic Symptoms, self-harm and violence with schizophrenia and substance misuse problems, Schizophrenia Research 151(1-3), 215-20. ,   Haddock, G., Pratt, D., Gooding, P.A., Peter, S., Emsley, R., Evans, E., Kelly, J., Huggett, C., Murno, A., Harris, K., Davies., L. and Awenat, Y. (2019) Randomised controlled trial of feasibility and acceptability of suicide prevention therapy in acute psychiatric wards. BJPsychOpen 16;18(1):334 doi.10.1186/s12888-018-1921-6. ,   Gooding, P., Pratt, D., Edwards, D., Awenat, Y., Drake, R.J., Emsley,R., Jones, S., Kapur, N., Lobban, F., Peters, S., Boardman, B., Harris, K., Huggett, C. & Haddock, G. (2025) Underlying mechanisms and efficacy of a suicide-focused psychological intervention for psychosis: The Cognitive AppRoaches to coMbatting Suicidality (CARMS), multicentre, single-masked, randomised controlled trial conducted in the UK. Lancet Psychiatry. ,   ,  
Although cognitive behaviour therapy has been widely evaluated in people with psychosis, there is much less evidence about its effectiveness when delivered for people experiencing additional complexities, such as suicidal ideas, problems of substance misuse and problems with anger and aggression. These complexities are common, can be severe in psychosis and lead to significantly poor outcomes and huge impacts and costs for the individual, services and society. This workshop will provide a detailed overview of CBT psychosis approaches and discuss, and demonstrate, how they been adapted to work with people experiencing such complex problems. The workshop will present some of the evidence and describe the interventions which have been developed, researched and implemented. The workshop will include workshop leader presentation, with recordings and case examples.

Outline:

1. Overview of the background and research evidence in relation to treatment of psychosis and the influence of complexities such as substance use and suicidality
2. Engaging and motivating the client to identify key goals in therapy – using motivational strategies
3. Exploring reasons for substance use and interactions with psychosis
4. Identifying key idiosyncratic suicidal architecture (cognitions, emotions, schema etc) underpinning suicide behaviour
5. Formulation of how psychosis, suicidality, substance use and interpersonal environment interact in preventing engagement and progress towards key goals
6. Preparatory work to facilitate CBT intervention strategies
7. Interventions to increase coping, reduce risk and integrate into interpersonal environment to ensure the benefits generalise
8. Case material to illustrate key points

Learning Objectives:

  • Gain an research evidence surrounding psychosis, its underpinning mechanisms and the evidence with regard to cognitive-behavioural interventions.
  • Explain the key therapeutic approaches needed for working with people with psychosis and how this can be adapted to work with complexities such as suicidality and other clinical issues.
  • Gain skills in assessment and formulation of psychosis and its complexities.