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Antipsychotic medications reduce psychotic symptoms and mortality and prevent relapses in schizophrenia, but medication adherence is very poor, and the drugs have significant medical and neurologic adverse effects. Because cognitive therapy (CT) has been shown to add to the effects of medication in schizophrenia patients, researchers in the U.K. examined the effects of 26 weekly CT sessions over 9 months or usual care in 74 unmedicated outpatients with schizophrenia. Patients were not taking antipsychotics for at least 6 months but were engaged with their local mental health care systems.
CT-treated patients had greater decreases in schizophrenia symptoms on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), with a small-to-medium effect size…