The £1 million funding, which has been awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, will be used to investigate how the language used by people diagnosed with schizophrenia differs from that of people without any mental health condition.
It is hoped that the findings will help inform talk-based therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of schizophrenia, cutting down on patients’ need for medication or hospitalisation.
Douglas Turkington, professor of psychosocial psychiatry at Newcastle University, is leading the North East study and says that to treat patients successfully with CBT would be of benefit to those suffering from schizophrenia and would also help to save the NHS money.
He said: “It is an exciting study as it’s the first of its kind. In the past researchers have been very interested in symptoms, diagnosis and how to get people better, they have not been so much interested in the voices that people with schizophrenia hear.
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Detailed information about the study is here:
http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/search/StudyDetail.aspx?StudyID=17370