Establishing efficacy of CBT in elderly treatment resistant chronic schizophrenia: a case report

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) has been proved to be effective for numerous patients and conditions and thus has been widely used ever since its establishment. However, it has been seen that using CBT or techniques of CBT in certain conditions is difficult and causes interruption in the flow of treatment. Likewise, management of elderly patients, treatment resistant patients or chronic schizophrenia are such conditions where a therapist might face an obstruction. The present study highlights application of techniques of CBT, its adaptability and effectiveness in terms of the outcomes of treatment. It describes the use of process of CBT for client aged 66 years, treatment resistant, and was presented with paranoid schizophrenia with a long duration of 42 years. The study uses various techniques to CBT as per requirement of the patient such as Socratic Questioning, Thought Challenging, and Challenging Absolutes, and the therapy was continued for 9 weeks. The outcomes of the therapy indicated improvement in psychotic features and reduced problem behaviours suggesting that CBT is an effective treatment approach in management of paranoid schizophrenia.