MODIFYING DELUSIONS - THE ROLE OF EMPIRICAL TESTING

Planned empirical testing of beliefs (reality testing) is used in all cognitive therapies and is thought to be the single most effective way to change beliefs. In the present study we first subjected delusions to a period of reality testing, and followed this with a period of conventional verbal challenge. Four people with long-standing delusions took part in a multiple-baseline across-subjects design. Reality testing appeared to be a weak initial intervention, producing temporary or insubstantial effects. These effects were considerably less impressive than those observed when verbal challenge has been used as an opening intervention, and they challenge the assumption that reality testing is the most efficacious way to weaken beliefs. However, by the close of the verbal challenge period, three of the four patients reported substantial reductions in belief conviction, adding further evidence that delusions may be responsive to cognitive therapy.