Metacognitive skill training (MCT) for schizophrenic patients

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There is growing consensus that psychopharmacological treatment in schizophrenia needs to be complemented by psychological interventions in order to achieve comprehensive treatment success. Our metacognitive training for schizophrenia patients (MCT) which has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2006 (clinical trial Mo 969/6-1) represents a promising candidate to complement standard psychiatric care: Prior research has found a medium effect size over and beyond an active control and standard psychopharmacological treatment for the amelioration of positive symptoms. The DFG-funded MCT trial will allow us to measure the short-term efficacy of the intervention (6 months after intervention). However, it would be premature to forecast presumed short-term effects of our training to the long-term. The trial in its current form might not be able to answer the question whether MCT exerts a prophylactic effect since most patients are in sustained contact with the psychiatric health system and still take medication on a regular basis within the first 6 months following discharge. A second follow-up period after 3 years is therefore requested in order to prove that schizophrenia patients will benefit from MCT training in terms of both a reduction of relapse rates and an accelerated decline of psychopathology. The requested prolongation of the trial will also estimate important secondary outcome measures such as health care costs. Since MCT is available in 15 languages and independent replications of its efficacy are beginning to emerge, the trial prolongation would further enable us to establish this approach world-wide. The application highlights the accomplished milestones and also summarizes recent efficacy data of the MCT.