Does CBT for psychosis replace medication?

Dr Emmanuelle Peters: So CBT does not replace medication in psychosis. All of the evidence so far has been that therapy is adjunctive, in other words in addition to medication.

There is one group of clients where it has been used without medication and that’s the people who are at risk of psychosis but have not developed psychosis yet.

All other stages of the psychosis history, if you like, from the acute breakdown, the first breakdown, to on-going breakdowns to residual symptoms of psychosis ... all of the trials that have been done have all been with people who are on medication. There are a few people who do manage without medication but we do find that for the majority of the people it’s very helpful to have medication that allows them to be more settled and stable so that they are able to benefit from the therapy.  So it is not a replacement therapy for medication; it is adjunctive to medication for most people.