New Study Demonstrates Effective Trauma-Focused Therapy for Psychosis

While people are still routinely told that their psychosis is a brain illness, probably caused by their genetic predisposition, more and more professionals are aware that it’s very common for psychological trauma to precede and be a likely cause for psychosis. Unfortunately though, many of these professionals who do understand the role of trauma still lack training in how to provide therapy that addresses both the trauma and the psychosis.

That’s why I was thrilled to help organize a webinar where two researchers provided an overview of the findings and therapy guide from their recently completed, and very successful, STAR (Study of Trauma and Recovery) research trial (Peters et al., 2025).

“Many people who experience psychosis have also lived through trauma, and some may develop post-traumatic stress (PTSD). Trauma can have a deep impact on mental health and may make experiences like hearing voices, feeling fearful, or struggling with distress even harder to manage. For a long time, some professionals worried that talking directly about trauma in therapy might be too overwhelming for people with psychosis or could make things worse. Because of this, trauma-focused therapy has sometimes been avoided. But growing research suggests these concerns may be overstated, and that trauma-focused psychological therapy can be both safe and helpful.

“This webinar shares findings from the STAR Study (Study of Trauma and Recovery), the largest research trial of its kind, involving 305 participants across multiple sites in the UK. The study explored whether an integrated trauma-focused therapy called Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for psychosis (TF-CBTp) could help reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms in people living with current distressing psychosis. The webinar will introduce the therapy approach used in the study and explain how it supports recovery. This approach recognises that trauma and psychosis can be interconnected, with the therapy guide targeting psychological mechanisms that play a role in both.”

Here’s the recording of that webinar:

You can also find a full text version of the Lancet article on the study here.

Want to know how to do this kind of work? There’s a training, “Empowering the Silenced: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis” September 28, 29, 30, and October 1, 2026  |  9 am to 5 pm at Stanford University Campus, Palo Alto, California.