text_1: Penn team finds success with talk therapy for schizophrenics
text_2: The story delivers multiple success stories, but fails to point out serious limitations in the design of the trial (single-center, no comparable “placebo” control and no blinding, for example) that raise questions about the claims made by researchers. While the journal article reporting the trial results highlights that the participants were selected from the “extreme end of the low-functioning continuum,” the story implies that the tested therapy would be beneficial to anyone with schizophrenia. Experimental results are only as good as the design of the trial that produced them. This story should have highlighted study limitations that call into question the conclusions of this test of cognitive therapy. People with schizophrenia often have shortened lives and very high costs for treatments including powerful drugs and other intensive interventions. Effective psychotherapy would be a welcome addition to treatment options.