Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of body psychotherapy in the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia – a multi-centre randomised controlled trial

In a randomised controlled trial, 256 schizophrenic outpatients with negative symptoms will be randomly allocated either to BPT or Pilates groups. In both conditions, patients will be offered two 90 minutes sessions per week in groups of about 8 patients over a period of 10 weeks. Outcomes are assessed at the end of treatment and at six months follow-up. The primary outcome is severity of negative symptoms, as measured by the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), whilst a range of secondary outcome measures include general psychopathology, social contacts, and quality of life. We will also assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention.The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a promising form of group therapy which may help alleviate negative symptoms that are associated with unfavourable long-term outcomes and have so far been difficult to treat. If the trial is successful, it will add a new and effective option in the treatment of negative symptoms. Group BPT is manualised, might be attractive to many patients because of its unusual approach, and could potentially be rolled out to services at relatively little additional cost.Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN84216587Despite improvements of anti-psychotic medication and psychological treatments, schizophrenia patients often experience persistent symptoms and full remissions are infrequent. Patients often do not adhere to existing pharmacological and psychological treatments and even when they do, currently available treatments have an only limited effect. This applies in particular to negative symptoms which are frequently associated with poor long term outcomes.The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) reviewed the literature on the treatment of negative symptoms and identified six trials using different forms of ‘arts therapies’. Arts therapies is an umbrella term including therapies that have central non-verbal components, such as Body Psychotherapy (BPT). NICE suggested that arts the