Hi, can you recommend a good self help book for schizophrenia please? I have tried a couple of autobiographies but I really need CBT or something to help me… Thanks in advance, mouse1977
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The feel good handbook
By
Dr d burns
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Well, I don’t really like workbooks- they’re more practical for people with a formal education in psychology already in effect.
I say see a professional. I see one once every two weeks, I see mine today actually. I have a good working alliance with him and know him to be credible, the therapeutic alliance is strong. I work in therapy research, and it’s no coincidence that I suggest therapy. I am working on a thesis about a preparation for caregivers and pdocs and shrinks for the mentally ill- testing its effect and it’s differential effect across the gambit of mental illness.
Hi mortimermouse! Thanks but I have a therapist who talks to me about themes and applies examples from his own life but even after ten or so sessions with him I have not felt any better. If anything I feel worse and don’t see the point. It is depressing because I need help with getting rid of my hallucinations, even help to stop believing that they are true but he has said that since I have suffered with them for so long he doubts that I shall ever be rid of them…
I wish I could purchase this on my kindle but Amazon have said that it is currently unavailable…
I guess the hero party from FF6 would be good because Kefka tells them right before the final battle they all sound like chapters from a self help booklet.
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See @notmoses’s threads.
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Get a new therapist. Some are good and some are crap. 
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Torrey (who I don’t always agree with, but surely do see as one of The Experts) found plenty of research to suggest that the various CBTs can be effective (and are “safe”) for people with sz. The CBTs include…
REBT – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_emotive_behavior_therapy
Schematherapy – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_Therapy
Learned Optimism – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_optimism
Standard CBT – http://www.beckinstitute.org/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/About-CBT/252/
Digging into the websites listed above, one will find Albert Ellis, Jeffrey Young, Martin Seligman, Aaron Beck and Donald Meichenbaum. All of them wrote useful books for lay readers one can find on amazon.com and other websales sites.
@shellys12 suggested Burns’s book, which was (and still is) pretty good stuff 15 years ago. There are numerous CBT workbooks out there worth looking into. One of my favorites is…
and if one sees oneself as more depressed than anxious,…
Knaus is highly respected by mental health professionals, and his workbooks are used in many skills training groups.
There are other “neo-CBT” approaches including…
MBBT – https://www.newharbinger.com/blog/introduction-mind-body-bridging-i-system
MBCT - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22340145
DBT – http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm
10 StEP – http://pairadocks.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-10-steps-of-emotion-processing.html
…that are also effective and safe for sz pts IF the pt is well-stabilized on meds and has a good support system and relatively low stress in his or her living environment. Torrey and others feel that no sz (or other psychotic and potentially delusional) pt should ever use these “mindfulness” therapies, but I have seen them used very effectively by higher-functioning sz pts.
The top workbooks for these therapies include…
10StEP can be picked up simply from reading the web article at the link above, but it’s usually best to build a foundation for it by learning MBBT, MBCT and/or DBT before using it.
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Thank you notmoses. Very useful indeed. I don’t suppose that you know about any on insight and building insight do you? I’m still partially convinced by voices… 
The traditional, early and mid-20th century insight therapies (e.g.: psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, existential psychotherapy, gestalt psychotherapy, object relations therapy) are not generally recommended for sz pts unless they are 1) well-stabilized on meds and “high-functioning” in terms of their ability to discriminate reality from fantasy, 2) are well-supported by friends and relatives outside their nuclear families, and 3) have a solid, trust-grounded relationship with a psychotherapist who really knows a) those therapies, and b) schizophrenia.
Likewise, the new, insight-producing, millennial era “mindfulness” and “somatic” psychotherapies can be counterproductive for those who are not solidly grounded in CBT-type self-awareness.
If one is…
…I would stick with the CBTs and neo-CBTs, even though I am personally very big on the old and new insight therapies for those who can eventually become capable of managing their thoughts and emotions sufficiently to tackle them.
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Super! Thanks notmoses…