Examining service user experiences of a Cognitive Therapy intervention for self-stigma in psychosis

The internalisation of stigma is a common difficulty for people who experience psychosis. A small evidence base of conflicting findings has emerged for psychological interventions, including Cognitive Therapy (CT), in alleviating self-stigma. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of service users who had undertaken a CT intervention targeting self-stigma in psychosis. Eight service users with experiences of psychosis took part in this study. They had all undertaken an individual CT intervention for self-stigma as part of a pilot randomised controlled trial. A semi-structured interview was conducted examining their subjective experiences of the intervention. Data were analysed using thematic analysis methodology. The analysis identified three distinct themes: what helped, what hindered and what came of it. What helped incorporated the beneficial change mechanisms of the CT intervention; what hindered identified specific challenges of the intervention; and what came of it described the consequences and outcomes of receiving the intervention. Overall, CT for self-stigma was found to be valuable by the majority of participants. The therapeutic relationship, psychoeducation, and normalisation were identified as the most important factors of therapy.