Trial reportBehavioural and cognitive psychotherapy2016
Targeting Recovery in Persistent Persecutory Delusions: A Proof of Principle Study of a New Translational Psychological Treatment (the Feeling Safe Programme).
Trial report in Behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapies Targeting Cognitive Biases and Beliefs in Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Pooled it
- Depersonalisation-derealisation as a transdiagnostic treatment target: a scoping review of the evidence in anxiety, depression, and psychosis.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- What Works to Improve Wellbeing? A Rapid Systematic Review of 223 Interventions Evaluated with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scales.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Do Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Interventions Lead to Schema Change in People With Psychosis? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyPooled it
- A 6-month supported online program for the treatment of persecutory delusions: Feeling Safer.Psychological medicine · 2025Trial
- Comparison of a theoretically driven cognitive therapy (the Feeling Safe Programme) with befriending for the treatment of persistent persecutory delusions: a parallel, single-blind, randomised controlled trial.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Capturing behavioral indicators of persecutory ideation using mobile technology.Journal of psychiatric research · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Do Psychological Interventions Reduce Paranoia in Adolescents? A Systematic Review.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- Automated virtual reality therapy to treat needle fears (trypanophobia) in adolescents in England: a proof-of-concept cohort study and a Phase II randomised controlled trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Article
- A counterweight model for understanding and treating persecutory delusions.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Revisiting delusion subtypes in schizophrenia based on their underlying structures.Journal of psychiatric research · 2024Article
- Improving the therapist's metacognition and capacity to intersubjectively attune with a patient with psychosis through the exploration of the therapist's developmental history: a case report.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- A life more ordinary: A peer research method qualitative study of the Feeling Safe Programme for persecutory delusions.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2022Article
- The revised GreenPsychological medicine · 2021Article
- Risk perception in paranoia and anxiety: Two investigations across clinical and non-clinical populations.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2020Article
- Fast and slow thinking in distressing delusions: A review of the literature and implications for targeted therapy.Schizophrenia research · 2019Review
- How Inclusive, User-Centered Design Research Can Improve Psychological Therapies for Psychosis: Development of SlowMo.JMIR mental health · 2018Article
- Persistent persecutory delusions: The spirit, style and content of targeted treatment.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMany patients do not respond adequately to current pharmacological or psychological treatments for psychosis. Persistent persecutory delusions are common in clinical services, and cause considerable patient distress and impairment. Our aim has been to build a new translational personalized treatment, with the potential for wide use, that leads to high rates of recovery in persistent persecutory delusions. We have been developing, and evaluating individually, brief modular interventions, each targeting a key causal factor identified from our cognitive model. These modules are now combined in "The Feeling Safe Programme".
aimsTo test the feasibility of a new translational modular treatment for persistent persecutory delusions and provide initial efficacy data.
method12 patients with persistent persecutory delusions in the context of non-affective psychosis were offered the 6-month Feeling Safe Programme. After assessment, patients chose from a personalized menu of treatment options. Four weekly baseline assessments were carried out, followed by monthly assessments. Recovery in the delusion was defined as conviction falling below 50% (greater doubt than certainty).
results11 patients completed the intervention. One patient withdrew before the first monthly assessment due to physical health problems. An average of 20 sessions (SD = 4.4) were received. Posttreatment, 7 out of 11 (64%) patients had recovery in their persistent delusions. Satisfaction ratings were high.
conclusionsThe Feeling Safe Programme is feasible to use and was associated with large clinical benefits. To our knowledge this is the first treatment report focused on delusion recovery. The treatment will be tested in a randomized controlled trial.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.