In the UK the National Institute of Clinical & Health Excellence (NICE) has recommended that the treatment of psychosis should include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). As a result CBT has been ‘rolled out’ for people suffering schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

But the efficacy of CBT in schizophrenia has been challenged. A recent paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry has argued that the returns of CBT are small, and if the highest standards of the clinical trial are applied, any benefits disappear into nothingness. Not surprisingly – given the stakes – there has been a robust counter argument in favour of CBT for schizophrenia.

Ahead of a forthcoming Maudsley debate, the protagonists have made their case in a ‘head to head’ article published in the British Medical Journal [available here]. This is the preamble to the main event, a tag-match involving two rounds of ‘live action’, between…

in the Blue corner: CBT critics

Peter McKenna, Research Psychiatrist, Barcelona &                                                         Keith Laws, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology, University of Hertfordshire

& in the red corner: CBT defenders

David Kingdon, Professor of Mental Health Care Delivery, University of Southampton Peter Kinderman, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool

(& your match referee: Professor Sir Robin Murray FRS)