Brief Coping Strategy Enhancement for Distressing Voices: an Evaluation in Routine Clinical Practice.

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Mental Health Services Research

Background:

• Hearing voices is a common and distressing experience.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) is an effective treatment but faces access barriers, primarily clinician time.
• Brief forms of CBTp show promise for increasing treatment accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and evaluate a brief format of coping strategy enhancement (CSE), a form of CBTp, specifically for distressing auditory hallucinations.
• To assess the effectiveness of brief CSE within a routine clinical practice setting.

Main Methods:

• A service evaluation was conducted comparing pre- and post-intervention outcomes.
• The study included 101 patients who completed four sessions of brief CSE in an outpatient specialist service.
• The primary outcome measure was the distress scale of the Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale - Auditory Hallucinations (PSYRATS-AH).

Main Results:

• Data from 101 patients indicated a reduction in distress related to auditory hallucinations post-therapy.
• The observed reduction on the PSYRATS distress scale approached clinical significance when compared to baseline measures.

Conclusions:

• Brief coping strategy enhancement (CSE) appears to be an effective, low-intensity intervention for distressing voices in routine mental health services.
• This focused, brief CBTp approach can serve as an initial therapeutic step within a stepped-care model for auditory hallucinations.