Treating Psychosis: A Clinician's Guide to Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Mindfulness Approaches within the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tradition

Hallucinations, delusions, catatonia, and thought disorder: the symptoms of psychosis are extreme. Patients with psychosis may experience a complete break from reality, become violent toward themselves or others, and may even believe that they are being persecuted by unseen forces. Because these symptoms can pose a number of dangers to the patient and those around them, successfully treating psychosis can be enormously challenging.

Treating Psychosis is an evidence-based treatment manual for mental health professionals working with individuals who experience psychosis, a serious form of mental illness associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and severe depression. If you are a clinician dealing with psychotic patients, you know how devastating psychosis can be for both the patient and their family. That's why this book offers a compassionate approach that integrates empowerment and strengths-oriented methods.

Using a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) approach that incorporates acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and compassion-focused therapy (CFT), the book will provide you with a pre-treatment overview and treatment implementation strategies, and will help you develop a realistic action plan for treating patients with psychosis in individual or group settings.

Nicola P. Wright, PhD, CPsych, is a clinical psychologist in the schizophrenia program of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (ROHCG), as well as former chief of psychology of the ROHCG, and former director of training for the ROHCG Psychology Residency Program. She engages in individual and group therapy integrating acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness, and compassion focused approaches in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for people who experience psychosis. Wright is a clinical professor in the psychology department at The University of Ottawa, and a lecturer with the school of medicine at The University of Ottawa. In addition, she has been an active staff supervisor with the Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and Research. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Owen Kelly, PhD, graduated from Carleton University with a specialization in behavioral neuroscience and completed a post-doctoral re-specialization in clinical psychology at Fielding Graduate University. He is a clinical psychologist at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group anxiety disorders program, as well as the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy where he is in private practice. He is currently an adjunct research professor in the department of neuroscience, and lecturer in the department of psychology at Carleton University. Kelly resides in Ottawa, Canada.

Douglas Turkington, MA, is a major research figure within the history of the development of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for schizophrenia. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and founding fellow of the Faculty of Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia. He has written more than one hundred articles on the subject of CBT in schizophrenia. Turkington lives in Newcastle, England.

Dave Davies, PhD, CPsych, received his doctorate in psychology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. He is a clinical psychologist at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (ROHCG) anxiety disorders program, director of training for the ROHCG psychology residency program, clinical professor in the school of psychology at the University of Ottawa, and lecturer in the department of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. Davies is a founding member of the Canadian Association of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Davies lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Andrew M. Jacobs, PsyD, CPsych, received his PsyD in clinical psychology from the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology: College of William & Mary, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, and Old Dominion University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in anxiety disorders at McMaster University / St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Hamilton, Canada. He is a clinical psychologist at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group Anxiety Disorders Program, clinical professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, and lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. Jacobs lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Jennifer Hopton, MA, is completing her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Ottawa. Her research and clinical interests are in the areas of trauma, severe mental illness (with a particular focus on psychosis), substance use, community psychology, program evaluation, and mindfulness. She resides in Ottawa, Canada.

Foreword author Aaron T. Beck, MD, is the president of the non-profit Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, and University Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Medical School. He is the author of numerous books, including Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders and Cognitive Therapy of Depression.