Group mindfulness-based therapy for persecutory delusions: A pilot randomised controlled trial.

This study aims to assess recruitment and retention, assess acceptability of the group mindfulness intervention, and generate an indicative effect size on the preset primary outcome. The research assistant assessed therapy fidelity immediately after six randomly chosen sessions; participants completed checklists indicating adherence to four key elements of the session protocol. The study sheds light on the therapeutic process, highlighting for the first time in research on mindfulness for psychosis the subjective importance of altruistic connection with others – this finding is particularly striking in a study of people with persecutory delusions. The study has limitations. As befits a pilot trial, the sample size was intentionally small and not powered to detect statistically significant effects, and there was no follow up. Mindfulness practice was not formally assessed between sessions and there was no active control condition. In conclusion, the pilot study showed it is possible to recruit and retain people with current persecutory delusions into a group mindfulness study and the intervention was found to be safe, acceptable, and to reduce depressive symptoms.