TYPPEX stands for Tailoring evidence-based psychological therapY for People with common mental disorders including Psychotic EXperiences.  

Psychotic experiences (PEs) can be described as perceiving or interpreting situations differently compared to people around you. This may include feelings of suspiciousness, experiencing unusual thoughts and seeing or hearing things that others don’t . PEs are common for those receiving NHS talking therapy for anxiety and depression. If there is an increase in the severity of the anxiety and depression symptoms, the likelihood of experiencing PEs can also increase.  

NHS Talking Therapies services do not fully meet the needs of those who have PEs alongside their anxiety and depression. The TYPPEX study evaluates a new training and supervision package for therapists, CBT-Ts (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – Tailored for Severity). By giving therapists the knowledge about PEs and skills to tailor CBT to address the PEs alongside the anxiety and depression. the TYPPEX study looks to improve understanding of PEs for therapists and patients with anxiety and depression, as well as seeking to provide better treatment outcomes for this group.  

The NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) funded TYPPEX programme focuses on a previously unidentified group of patients receiving treatment in NHS Talking Therapies services for common mental health disorders (CMDs). Theoretically predicted and endorsed by our lived-experience advisory panel, researchers discovered that almost a third of these patients are experiencing psychotic experiences (PEs), such as hallucinations and suspiciousness). PEs are more prevalent as severity of depression and anxiety increases and PEs predict poor outcomes in services. Nationally, these services treat more than a million people a year.  

With strong input from people with lived experience (co-ordinated by the McPin Foundation), the TYPPEX programme developed a specialist training and supervision package for therapists to help them tailor a new blend of existing psychological therapies to address this presentation that previously hid in plain sight. The study is evaluating a multi-centre, stepped-wedge RCT (Randomised Control Trial). This is a disruptive, trans-diagnostic programme that may important therapeutic impacts, but also could lead to a reappraisal of psychotic experiences in clinical settings. We hope PEs which were once assumed to be primarily indicators for other mental disorders such as schizophrenia, can be further destigmatised and normalised for those with CMD.