Evaluating the effectiveness of individual psychological treatment offered within Mid-Essex early intervention in psychosis (EIP) service

• DOI: 10.53841/bpscpf.2024.1.383.28
• Publication Date: 2025-01-16T16:11:29Z
• Authors: Elena Santonja Las; Claire Stubbins; Sarah Pennington; Morgan Smith; Styliani Pertesi

The Mid Essex Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) team provides formulation-driven psychological interventions based on clients’ needs, goals, and difficulties. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis (CBT-p) is the primary therapy model offered by the service (NICE, 2014). However, clinicians may also use other CBT approaches, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), or Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills, as well as other therapies like Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), or Psychodynamic therapy, based on the specific needs of each individual. This evaluation aimed to assess the effectiveness of individual psychotherapy using the CORE-OM (Evans et al., 2000) by comparing pre- and post-therapy measures. Out of 30 clients, 12 (40%) showed overall clinical improvement, 28 (93.33%) had significant change in one or more subsections, and 19 (63.33%) transitioned to a lower severity band. In addition, 21 clients (70%) experienced a reliable change in their wellbeing scores, 15 (50%) in their symptoms, 20 (66.67%) in their functioning levels, and 6 (16.67%) in their risk scores. Paired T-tests revealed statistically significant improvements in overall clinical scores and subscales for wellbeing, functioning, and symptoms. However, no statistical change was observed for risk. This could be due to the low initial risk levels at the beginning of therapy. Overall, findings suggest that psychological treatment effectively improves clients’ overall levels of global distress and should continue to be offered to clients. Limitations of the evaluation are discussed, along with some ideas for improving the service.