Metacognitive and Insight Therapy for Persons With Schizophrenia (RCT MERIT)
- Conditions
- Diagnosis of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
- Interventions
- Behavioral: MERIT
- Registration Number
- NCT03427580
- Lead Sponsor
- Bar-Ilan University, Israel
- Brief Summary
People with schizophrenia spectrum disorders are faced with significant metacognitive impairments that include difficulties in their ability to form complex representations of the self and others. These impairments are associated with increased symptoms, impaired subjective self-experiences, and lower social functioning. As a result, interventions that enhance metacognitive capacity have been recently developed and explored. One of these interventions is Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT; Lysaker et al., 2014). MERIT is an integrative model of psychotherapy that seeks to promote holistic metacognitive capacity and consequently increase a positive sense of agency and sense of meaning in life among clients with schizophrenia. Several case studies (including in Bar-Ilan's community clinic), as well as a recent pilot study, showed increased metacognitive abilities and a decrease in symptoms following MERIT. The current study will explore both the effectiveness and the change mechanisms that underlie MERIT interventon among clients diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, via both pre- and post-measures of the intervention's outcome and session-by-session estimations of the therapeutic process.
- Detailed Description
Not available
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 54
- Diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders
- Ability to provide informed consent
- Ability to read and write in Hebrew
- No co-morbid nuerological condition
- No hospitalization in the last 6 months
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description delayed treatment control group MERIT - treatment group MERIT -
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Metacognition Assessment Scale-Abbreviated (MAS-A) Prior to the begining of the therapy (baseline, pre-treatment), and again at the end of the therapy (six months later, post-treatment) The Metacognition Assessment Scale-Abbreviated (MAS-A) is a rating scale used to assess metacognitive abilities in individuals, particularly those with psychiatric conditions. The scale consists of four domains that reflect one's ability to understand different mental phenomena and use this understanding in order to cope with psychological challenges.
Higher scores indicate a higher complexity of functions and ideas in each domain, i.e. higher values represent a better outcome. The four scales/domains:
1. self-reflectivity (min 1 to max 9) ;
2. understanding of the other's mind (min 1 to max 7) ;
3. decentration (min 1 to max 3) ;
4. mastery (min 1 to max 9). The total score is the sum of the ratings in each subscale. Thus, the total score can be ranged from 4 (min) to 28 (max), when higher values represent a better outcome.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Bar-Ilan University
🇮🇱Ramat Gan, Israel