Ok so studies have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy has proven to be one of the most effective therapies out there with a constant success rate. Largely because it’s focused on giving the patient long-term coping mechanisms to make them independent in caring for themselves, so that their mental wellbeing doesn’t depend on their therapist. (It’s the whole give a man a fish, eats for a day, teach him to fish he eats for life deal).
Standard cognitive behavioral therapy used in the treatment of schizophrenics while medicated shows a 33% improvement rate in symptoms in the first 6 months. (Not meaning that symptoms go away, but meaning it helps the patient become more comfortable with symptoms and more adept at managing them, for example being able to recognize delusional thoughts instead of falling for them)
The issue with standard CBT is that it was designed to help people struggling with anxiety and depression, not psychotic disorders, so currently when someone with a psychotic disorder takes CBT, what will happen is either their comorbid depression/anxiety will be the focus of the treatment, or an overgeneralization of symptoms occurs and they’re just treated like one lumped issue instead of examined separately.
There has been research done into modifying CBT to be more effective to people with psychotic disorders, but it’s rare due to lack of funding. The results were way more promising than standard CBT though, with an over 50% improvement rate in symptoms in the first 6 months. Psychosis-specialized CBT outlines specific methods of treatment for each symptom of schizophrenia. There is a way to deal with delusions, a way to deal with hallucinations, with flat effect, with mental jumble as well as comorbid disorders. It’s complex because it’s very specialized. Due to its complexity, (and the lack of research) it has yet to be implemented as a standardized treatment for schizophrenics, meaning that if someone with a psychotic disorder goes into CBT now they are going to get the same treatment as someone who has an anxiety or depression related disorder, which is ok if you’re experiencing those things, but not ok if you want to deal with your psychotic symptoms.
In short, I was trying to promote more research into improving psychosis-specialized CBT so that all of us can have a therapy type that’s actually designed to treat our disorder…imagine if we could raise the 50% success rate even higher…
If you want my opinion on whether or not you should do CBT, if you struggle with anxiety or depression it can be great for that, but don’t expect much when it comes to dealing with your pscyhotic symptoms. I’ve seen two CBT people for my disorders and both were helpful with my anxiety disorder but the psychotic one really they didn’t have any answers for. Though it also depends on who you get, but most CBT therapists don’t specialize in psychotic disorders as of yet…
Sorry for long post!! Hope you found it informative! 
