The most common mental health disorders in the UK are depression and anxiety. However, not everyone experiences these disorders the same way.

Some people with these common mental health disorders also have psychotic experiences like visual and voice hallucinations, suspiciousness, and unusual thought content. Often, such people do not get the treatment they need as services for anxiety and depression don’t always address their psychotic experiences. This means that the psychotic experiences are left untreated. As a result, this can have a negative effect of their health and quality of life.

Metaphorically, it is as if there are two fires in a forest. A psychotic experiences fire, and a depression and anxiety fire. If the focus of treatment is only on extinguishing the depression and anxiety fire, there is the possibility that it will be rekindled by heat and flames from the psychotic experiences fire. In other words, enhancing treatment for people with depression and anxiety means finding out i) if they are also having psychotic experiences and ii) if they are, addressing those experiences as part of their treatment.

Hoping to address this gap in treatment, the University of Cambridge and Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust have received funding from the National Institute for Health Research for a seven-year study. This study aims to develop and evaluate an enhanced therapists’ training programme (CBT-ts) for NHS Talking Therapies services for people with common mental health disorders in addition to psychotic experiences. Currently, the TYPPEX programme is in the process of training IAPT therapists to deliver CBT-ts. By making treatment for psychotic experiences more accessible in primary care, we are hoping to help bridge the treatment gap, reduce the stigma, and normalise such experiences.