Skills for Wellness

Conditions studied

Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression

About this study

Severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and mood disorders typically develops at a young age and can cause life-long disability. Currently available treatments cannot cure severe mental illness. This makes it important to find ways to prevent severe mental illness in young people before it has a chance to develop. This research study will pilot a new preventive intervention for young people who are at high risk of developing severe mental illness. The investigators will target early preceding factors (the 'antecedents') to severe mental illness which includes anxiety, unusual hearing and visual experiences, the loss of previously acquired abilities, and sudden and unpredictable changes in mood. These antecedents strongly predict an increased risk of developing severe mental illness. They are often impairing and distressing to the individual but can be improved with self-management skills and parent training, and they are present in the individual years before the onset of severe mental illness which makes them an ideal target for early intervention. The goal is to intervene early enough in the young person's life that severe mental illness can be prevented, hopefully leading to a happy, healthy and productive adulthood. The investigators want to test the acceptability and short-term efficacy of this new preventive intervention.

Interventions

• Behavioral: maCBT — Multimodal Antecedent-focussed Cognitive-behavioural Training (maCBT) is an individual manualized psychological intervention. It follows an integrated model focussed on normalisation of the unusual experiences, their re-appraisal, exploring helpfulness of current coping, and developing a repertoire of strategies to decrease the impact of these experiences on the young person's life. The maCBT follows a manual describing obligatory and optional therapeutic elements, proposed list of modules, outline of a therapeutic session, and the integrated cognitive model. The intervention will be delivered in 8 to 16 one-hour sessions in an individual format. Sessions will be initially weekly, and then spaced out to once every two weeks in the latter stages of the intervention.

Primary outcomes

• Early antecedents to severe mental illness (4-6 months after the end of the intervention)

Eligibility information

Study locations

• Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2E2 Canada
• Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2E2 Canada