Psychosocial Approaches to Negative Symptoms in Psychosis : Assessment and Intervention for Clinicians and Researchers

Many people are familiar with positive symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations and delusions and are not as familiar with negative symptoms, which include difficulty with motivation, socializing, and expressing emotions. Negative symptoms have been found to have a more profound impact on people with psychosis than positive symptoms and are more difficult to treat with medications. Psychosocial Approaches to Negative Symptoms is Psychosis is the first collection of psychological interventions for negative symptoms and will be of value to both clinicians and researchers.

Psychosocial Approaches to Negative Symptoms in Psychosis provides cutting edge information about psychotherapeutic intervention and assessment of negative symptoms. Negative symptoms are known to be the most debilitating aspect of psychotic disorders and are difficult to treat. Psychopharmacological interventions have been shown to have little impact on symptoms and at times may even exacerbate them. As a result, the development and use of psychological intervention has long been seen as a potential method for treating these difficult symptoms. However, to date, there has been no comprehensive book that focuses on negative symptoms from a psychosocial perspective. The book fills this gap through introducing the reader to key empirically-supported and emerging psycho-social and behavioral treatments, including social skills training, exercise interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, amongst others. Included in the book are also lived experience and critical perspectives, as well as various approaches to assessment. Psychosocial Approaches to Negative Symptoms in Psychosis will be a valuable resource for both clinicians working in mental health settings and researchers seeking to study negative symptoms.