Learning How to Improve the Treatment of Persecutory Delusions: Using a Principal Trajectories Analysis to Examine Differential Effects of Two Psychological Interventions (Feeling Safe, Befriending) in Distinct Groups of Patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A theory-driven cognitive therapy (Feeling Safe) has produced much better outcomes for patients with persecutory delusions. There are four distinct response classes: very high delusion conviction with large improvement, very high delusion conviction with no response, high delusion conviction with large improvement, and high delusion conviction with modest improvement. Our objective was to apply principal trajectories analysis, a novel statistical method, to original trial data to estimate whether these groups may have responded differently to a different intervention: befriending.

Design

One hundred and thirty patients with persistent persecutory delusions were randomised to six months of Feeling Safe or befriending. Baseline assessments were used to assign patien

SUBMITTER: Jenner L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12809788 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature