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Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that helps patients correct undesirable behaviors. This type of therapy teaches patients how to address their own emotions and improve upon their behaviors by creating and attempting to accomplish goals using a systematic approach. CBT has been found to be effective in helping children with learning disorders, such as an autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). CBT has also been recommended for people suffering from schizophrenia. According to a new study, however, researchers reported that CBT might not be an effective form of therapy for people with schizophrenia.

"This study is a new meta-analysis of CBT in the treatment of schizophrenia. It is the most comprehensive study of its effect on symptoms ever undertaken - covering fifty randomized controlled trials published over the last twenty years," explained Keith Laws reported by Medical Xpress. "We even translated papers from foreign languages, such as Chinese - so our study covers everything worthy of examination."

Laws, who is a professor of cognitive neuropsychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and fellow researchers concluded that CBT only had a small positive effect on patients' schizophrenic symptoms. The researchers found that the small therapeutic effects of CBT helped symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations, which CBT was designed to do. However, the effects were extremely small.

"Even this small effect disappeared when only studies where the assessors were blind were taken into account," Laws stated. Blind studies in which the investigators are unaware of which treatment their patients are receiving are common in trials using medical treatment. "With this evidence, the current government policy which mandates this treatment for all patients with schizophrenia in England and Wales needs to be reconsidered."

According to the background information in the report, schizophrenia affects around one in every 100 people. In the UK, CBT is recommended for all schizophrenic patients. However, this new study questions this recommendation and suggests that developing other forms of treatment might be necessary.

The study, "Cognitive-behavioral therapy for the symptoms of schizophrenia: systematic review and meta-analyses with examination of potential bias," was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.