Objective

This study investigated the effectiveness of an innovative, manualized psychotherapy aimed at enhancing recovery and self-experience in people with schizophrenia, Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy. 

Design

Treatment effects were assessed using a mixed methodology. Data were quantitatively assessed using a single sample, pre- and post-therapy design and qualitatively assessed using a case-study methodology. 

Methods

Eleven patients diagnosed with schizophrenia received Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy over the course of 11 to 26 months. Therapists were seven supervised postgraduate psychology students. On average patients attended 49 sessions over the course of therapy. Patients completed interview-based and self-report measures for general and treatment-specific outcomes at pre-, mid-, and post-treatment. 

Results

Quantitative analyses showed that patients significantly improved on the general outcome of subjective recovery, as well as the treatment-specific outcome of self-reflectivity, with medium to large effect sizes. Case-study evidence also showed improvements for some patients in symptom severity, and narrative coherence and complexity.

Conclusions

These results are consistent with previous case-study evidence and suggest that this manualized version of Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy produces general and approach-specific improvements for people with schizophrenia. Replication is needed to ascertain its effectiveness with a larger sample size and within a controlled design.

Enhancing sense of recovery and self-reflectivity in people with schizophrenia : a pilot study of Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy

Objective
With growing awareness of the impact of mental illness self-stigma, interest has arisen in the development of interventions to combat it. The present article briefly reviews and compares interventions targeting self-stigma to clarify the similarities and important differences between the interventions.

Interventions targeting mental health self-stigma: A review and comparison

Research using the integrated model of metacognition has suggested that the construct of metacognition could quantify the spectrum of activities that, if impaired, might cause many of the subjective disturbances found in psychosis. Research on social cognition and mentalizing in psychosis, however, has also pointed to underlying deficits in how persons make sense of their experience of themselves and others. To explore the question of whether metacognitive research in psychosis offers unique insight in the midst of these other two emerging fields, we have offered a review of the constructs and research from each field. Following that summary, we discuss ways in which research on metacognition may be distinguished from research on social cognition and mentalizing in three broad categories: (1) experimental procedures, (2) theoretical advances, and (3) clinical applications or indicated interventions. In terms of its research methods, we will describe how metacognition makes a unique contribution to understanding disturbances in how persons make sense of and interpret their own experiences within the flow of life. We will next discuss how metacognitive research in psychosis uniquely describes an architecture which when compromised - as often occurs in psychosis - results in the loss of persons' sense of purpose, possibilities, place in the world and cohesiveness of self. Turning to clinical issues, we explore how metacognitive research offers an operational model of the architecture which if repaired or restored should promote the recovery of a coherent sense of self and others in psychosis. Finally, we discuss the concrete implications of this for recovery-oriented treatment for psychosis as well as the need for further research on the commonalities of these approaches.

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Metacognition, social cognition, and mentalizing in psychosis: are these distinct constructs when it comes to subjective experience or are we just splitting hairs?

Internalized stigma among people with schizophrenia: Relationship with socio-demographic, clinical and medication-related features

Background and objective: Experiencing psychosis can be associated with changes in how people see themselves as individuals and in relation to others (i.e., changes in their identity). However, identity changes receive little attention in treatment, possibly due to a lack of clarity or consensus around what identity change means in people with psychosis. We aimed to create a conceptual framework synthesizing how identity changes are understood in the psychosis literature.
Methods: Electronic databases were searched up to April 2020. Studies about identity changes among people with psychotic disorders were analyzed using narrative synthesis by a collaborative review team, including researchers from different disciplines, clinicians, and people who have experienced psychosis. 
Results: Of 10,389 studies screened, 59 were eligible. Identity changes are understood in five ways: as 1) characteristics of psychosis, 2) consequences of altered cognitive functioning, 3) consequences of internalized stigma, 4) consequences of lost roles and relationships, and 5) reflections of personal growth. These five understandings are not mutually exclusive. Across a heterogeneous literature, identity changes were mostly framed in terms of loss. 
Conclusions: Our conceptual framework, comprising five understandings, highlights the complexity of studying identity changes and suggests important implications for practice and research. For clinicians, this framework can inform new therapeutic approaches where the experience and impact of identity changes are acknowledged and addressed as part of treatment. For researchers, the conceptual framework offers a way of locating their understandings of identity changes when undertaking research in this area.

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John Richardson

Papers

Understanding Identity Changes in Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis