Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Part of a Multimodal Rehabilitation for Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder. The development of efficacious and effective psychosocial treatments is imperative for the treatment of people with schizophrenia. The main therapy for those people is the pharmacotherapy. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and various rehabilitation programs present an effective and efficacious therapy in combination with pharmacotherapy for individuals with schizophrenia. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy belongs to the third wave of behavioural therapies. This mini review will focus on the latest evidenced based data regarding the efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in people with schizophrenia. In addition, the possible combination of ACT with other evidenced based psychological interventions will be addressed. It seems to be that ACT is an effective therapeutic approach. Further meta analyses and randomized controlled trials regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of ACT in individuals with schizophrenia should be conducted. There are some interesting clinical and research questions, which will be discussed. ACT should be recommended as an alternative and adjunct therapy in combination with pharmacotherapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, behavioural family therapy and other efficacious rehabilitation programs. ACT should be adapted as a part of a multimodal rehabilitation for people with schizophrenia. Further research regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of ACT in longitudinal studies with large samples in combination with other evidenced based interventions in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is recommended..