ABSTRACT
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) is effective for reducing distress following psychosis and it is recommended as a treatment of choice. However, doubts about the efficacy of CBTp remain, and it has been argued that there is confusion regarding the choice of treatment targets. The chapter aims to resolve some of this confusion by articulating a model of CBTp that focuses on targeting the emotional dysfunction often observed in psychosis. Emotional regulation can include conscious, effortful and deliberate processes aimed at overriding spontaneous emotional processes, effortless and automatic processes. The formulation approach has integrated emotional regulation strategies into the formulation by linking their origins with developmental events and their current use with affective deregulation and in turn with different types of post-psychotic emotional dysfunction and persistent psychotic experiences. The effectiveness of CBTp may be enhanced by placing more emphasis on emotional (dys)regulation in the assessment, formulation and intervention process.
