In my last post, I talked about cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and how it can be used in depression. A lot of people have heard about or experienced CBT, so it may be a topic that people are very familiar with. Today, I want to touch on a different type of therapy that I had never heard about until a few weeks ago, and I would like to introduce it to you today.
Instead of CBT, this therapy is CET, which stands for cognitive enhancement therapy. According to the website, http://www.cognitiveenhancementtherapy.com/, CET is a performance based, comprehensive, and developmental approach to the rehabilitation of social cognitive and neurocognitive deficits. CET is designed as a recovery phase intervention for persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who are symptomatically stable, but who nonetheless remain socially and vocationally disabled. Participants work at recovery through structured group and computer exercises. Overall, CET attempts to increase mental stamina, active information processing, and the spontaneous negotiation of unrehearsed social challenges. It does so with a focus on enhancing perspective taking, social context appraisal, and other components of social cognition. CET is evidence based, and can also be a cost effective strategy involved in treating schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Needless to say, I do not know much about CET, but since it is evidence based, that can lend more credit to the effectiveness of this therapy. And, while I spend most of my time focusing on depression, I think this therapy is definitely something to consider in the area of schizophrenia. My goal for this post was to at least make everyone aware that there is CET and that it can help.
How about you? Have you ever heard of cognitive enhancement therapy? Is this a topic you want to learn more about? Are you touched by schizophrenia in any way and could see a benefit in trying this therapy?