Psychosis is a serious mental health condition that can affect how a person thinks, feels, and functions in daily life, often making it harder to maintain relationships, continue education, or work. Even with standard treatment, many people continue to experience emotional distress, depression, anxiety, and difficulty coping with strong emotions. These challenges can worsen recovery, increase the risk of substance use and suicidal behaviour, and place a significant burden on individuals, families, and the healthcare system.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based psychological treatment that helps people manage emotions, tolerate distress, and improve relationships. Although DBT has been effective in other mental health conditions, it has not been well studied in people with first-episode psychosis.
This study will evaluate an 8-week group DBT skills training adapted for individuals with first-episode psychosis. The study aims to assess whether the program is acceptable and feasible to deliver, and whether it may improve emotion regulation, mood, resilience, and functioning. Findings will inform whether a larger clinical trial of this intervention should be conducted.
Be 14-35 years old.
All gender identities are eligible to participate.
Being competent as demonstrated by comprehension of the study procedures, risks, benefits and their rights as a volunteer in the research study and willing to consent to study participation.
Meets criteria for a psychotic spectrum disorder as determined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, other specified schizophrenia spectrum disorder, or other unspecified schizophrenia spectrum disorder), or bipolar disorder with psychotic features, and is within 3 years of their initial diagnosis.
Diagnosis of intellectual disability previously documented in the patient chart.
Acute suicidality requiring immediate life-saving intervention (i.e., inpatient psychiatric care).
Receiving any additional structured psychotherapy interventions during the study period.
Single group
group DBT
BehavioralDBT skills group delivered over 8-weeks
Adherence
Percent sessions attended
Retention rates
Percent participants who complete 8-week study.
Attrition
Percent participants that dropout at 8 weeks
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire
A Likert scale from 1-4, total scores range from 8-32, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction.
Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)
a widely used instrument for the assessment of positive, negative and affective symptoms in individuals who have psychotic disorders. It consists of 18 symptom constructs. Total score range from 18-126, higher scores indicating higher severity.
Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS)
An instrument for measuring negative symptoms in schizophrenia. It assesses five symptom complexes to obtain clinical ratings of negative symptoms in participants with schizophrenia. They are: affective blunting; alogia (impoverished thinking); avolition/apathy; anhedonia/asociality; and disturbance of attention. Assessments are conducted on a six-point scale (0=not at all to 5=severe). Total score range from 0-110, higher scores indicating higher severity.
Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS)
4-point Likert type scale (0, absent; 1, mild; 2, moderate; 3, severe) with nine items. It is a reliable scale, with high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.855), and the CDSS is suitable for evaluating symptoms of depression in people at clinical high risk for psychosis Total score range from 0-27, higher scores indicating higher severity.
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
A psychological inventory consisting of 40 self-report items on a 4-point Likert scale. The STAI measures two types of anxiety - state anxiety and trait anxiety. Scores range from 20 to 80 for both state and trait anxiety, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety.
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
This trial is not recruiting at the moment. You can still explore other options:
