On the 11^th June 2015, University of Bath hosted a conference in response to the “Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia report” from the British Psychological Society’s division of Clinical Psychology. This event was organised to generate light in this area, with consideration of both professional and service views, by exploring recent science and theory.

Ella Rhodes, a psychology journalist, reported on the number of perspectives at the conference. Click here to read the full report. 

Key points included:

• Philippa Garety, King’s college London, highlighted the recent use of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) for psychosis had demonstrated improvement in wellbeing, distress and social functioning, and showed cost-effectiveness.
• Worry interventions to help target severe paranoid thoughts in psychosis from Daniel Freeman, University of Oxford
• Robin Murray, King’s College London, highlighted the dopamine dysregulation problems and psychosis risk may be within the genes
• Reducing stigma and increasing awareness via normalising and informing the public – such as compassionforvoices.com video. 
• On the other hand, Clive Adams, University of Nottingham, suggested CBT for psychosis offers little advantage over other therapies

Although there were conflicting views during the conference and the roundtable discussion, Professor Salkovskis, Professor of Clinical Psychology at University of Bath, stated there was more agreement than disagreement and a consensus to do better.

The debate remains controversial, so research continues.