Chen XL, Deng XT, Sun FG, Huang QJ. Effect of cognitive behavioral group therapy on rehabilitation of community patients with schizophrenia: A short-term randomized control trial. World J Psychiatry 2023; 13(8): 583-592 [PMID: 37701538 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i8.583]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Qing-Jun Huang, PhD, Professor, Mental Health Center, Shantou University, Mount Taishan North Road, Wanji District, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China. huangqj@stu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Randomized Controlled Trial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Xue-Lian Chen, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Xue-Lian Chen, Xiao-Ting Deng, Fu-Gang Sun, Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Center (Mental Health Center) of Longhua District, Shenzhen 518110, Guangdong Province, China
Qing-Jun Huang, Mental Health Center, Shantou University, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Chen XL and Deng XT were responsible for study design and data analysis; Sun FG was responsible for data acquirement and mental health education; Chen XL was responsible for cognitive behavioral group therapy; Chen XL and Huang QJ drafted the manuscript and revised it critically; and all the authors critically reviewed the manuscript and gave final approval for its publication.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Biomedical Ethics Review Committee of Longhua District Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment Center (Mental Health Center).
Informed consent statement: The informed consent were obtained from the family members of the research patients.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qing-Jun Huang, PhD, Professor, Mental Health Center, Shantou University, Mount Taishan North Road, Wanji District, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China. huangqj@stu.edu.cn
Received: June 20, 2023 Peer-review started: June 20, 2023 First decision: July 7, 2023 Revised: July 17, 2023 Accepted: July 19, 2023 Article in press: July 19, 2023 Published online: August 19, 2023 Processing time: 57 Days and 22.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The efficacy of cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) for cognitive dys-function and negative symptoms of schizophrenia is established, but more evidence is required.
AIM
To assess the effectiveness of CBGT combined with mental health education as a treatment for schizophrenia compared with mental health education alone.
METHODS
In all, 120 schizophrenia out-patients were randomized into CBGT combined with mental health education or single mental health education. The primary outcomes were positive and negative symptoms, cognitive function, excitatory factor, anxiety and depression symptom improvements on the positive and negative syndrome scale score. Secondary outcome measures included social function and drug compliance.
RESULTS
There were significant differences between CBGT combined with mental health education and single mental health education on measures of positive and negative symptoms, cognitive functions, excitatory factor, anxiety and depression symptoms, and social functions. No other significant difference in outcomes was observed.
CONCLUSION
CBGT combined with mental health education may be relevant beneficial treatment method in reducing symptoms, cognitive and social functions of patients with schizophrenia.
Core Tip: Psychological therapies for schizophrenia still deserves to be explored due to its advantages of having comparatively fewer side effects. As one of the different psychological approaches, cognitive behavioral therapy has been proven to be effective in the treatment of schizophrenia with sound evidence. This study provides new insights by adding cognitive behavioral group therapy to the conventional pharmaceutical therapy plus mental health education for the treatment of schizophrenia. It also provides some guidance on developing community rehabilitation models in patients with mental illness.
