ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07777315Updated Sep 16, 2026

Group Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Skills Training for First Episode Psychosis

An interventional study of group DBT in Psychosis, sponsored by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 14 Years to 35 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-16.

Sponsored by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
32
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
14 Years to 35 Years
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-12

Among 37 studies in Psychotic Disorders by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health — 4 open to participants now, 8 under way, none of them phase 3. Psychotic Disorders · Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Planned enrollment
26th of 35
32 · median 50
Started
2026
the only one that year
No phase
31 of 37
3 open now
Registered
37th of 37
by date

Among the 37 studies in Psychotic Disorders by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, this one is the 26th largest by planned enrollment of the 35 interventional ones that give a count, is the only one that started in 2026, is one of 31 with no phase, and was the 37th registered.

Psychotic Disorders

1,587 studies on the registry are indexed under Psychotic Disorders; 281 are open to participants now.

Browse Psychotic Disorders studies →

Open to participants now

4 of the 37 studies in Psychotic Disorders by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health are open now, in 1 country. Recruiting first, the newest first:

By country, each count listing its studies:

All 4 open studies →

Where they have run

Who these studies take

Of the 205 Psychotic Disorders studies recruiting now, 53 (26%) set no upper age limit and 143 (70%) stop at 75 or younger; 51 take children under 18; 41 take healthy volunteers.

This study: 14 Years to 35 Years · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.

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Watch this landscapeDownload CSVNarrow it in search →With an account: a weekly mail of what changed among 37 studies in Psychotic Disorders by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, or all of them as a file.
02

Study summary

Psychosis is a serious mental health condition that can affect how a person thinks, feels, and functions in daily life, often making it harder to maintain relationships, continue education, or work. Even with standard treatment, many people continue to experience emotional distress, depression, anxiety, and difficulty coping with strong emotions. These challenges can worsen recovery, increase the risk of substance use and suicidal behaviour, and place a significant burden on individuals, families, and the healthcare system.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based psychological treatment that helps people manage emotions, tolerate distress, and improve relationships. Although DBT has been effective in other mental health conditions, it has not been well studied in people with first-episode psychosis.

This study will evaluate an 8-week group DBT skills training adapted for individuals with first-episode psychosis. The study aims to assess whether the program is acceptable and feasible to deliver, and whether it may improve emotion regulation, mood, resilience, and functioning. Findings will inform whether a larger clinical trial of this intervention should be conducted.

Read the detailed description

Despite evidence that individuals with psychotic disorders experience marked emotion dysregulation, impulsivity and elevated suicide risk, they have largely been excluded from clinical trials evaluating DBT. Nevertheless, emerging pilot studies support the feasibility and potential efficacy of brief DBT-informed skills group in individuals with psychosis, with participants reporting high satisfaction and improvements in understanding and managing emotions, suicidality, and interpersonal functioning. However, this literature remains preliminary and underdeveloped, and no studies have evaluated group DBT skills intervention specifically for individuals with first-episode psychosis.

Aim 1: To evaluate the acceptability of the group DBT skills training invention and the feasibility of conducting a fully powered randomized controlled trial (RCT) of in young men with psychosis.

Aim 2: To assess the preliminary efficacy of group DBT skills training in improving emotion regulation, resilience, and functioning and reducing, mood and anxiety and substance use, in a single-arm exploratory clinical trial.

This study will provide evidence of the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a group DBT skills training for young men with first-episode psychosis. Findings will advance understanding of emotion regulation as a treatment target in psychosis and inform the development of larger controlled trials evaluating emotion-focused interventions in early psychosis care. The intervention could represent a scalable and practical psychosocial treatment to address emotional difficulties that are common but often under-treated in psychosis.

This study employing qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the group DBT skills training intervention and test its feasibility, and acceptability in individuals with psychosis. A single arm trial where DBT skills group delivered over 8-weeks, will be conducted. Thirty-two participants are planned to be enrolled in the trial. Participants will continue with their standard outpatient care during the trial. Outcome measures will be completed at study entry and post-treatment. For the qualitative component of the study, 15 post-intervention semi-structured interviews will be conducted.

03

Conditions studied

  • Psychosis

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Psychosis
  • DBT
  • Group therapy
04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
14 Years to 35 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Be 14-35 years old.
  2. All gender identities are eligible to participate.
  3. Being competent as demonstrated by comprehension of the study procedures, risks, benefits and their rights as a volunteer in the research study and willing to consent to study participation.
  4. Meets criteria for a psychotic spectrum disorder as determined by (DSM-5) (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, other specified schizophrenia spectrum disorder, or other unspecified schizophrenia spectrum disorder), or bipolar disorder with psychotic features, and is within 3 years of their initial diagnosis.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Diagnosis of intellectual disability previously documented in the patient chart.
  2. Acute suicidality requiring immediate life-saving intervention (i.e., inpatient psychiatric care).
  3. Receiving any additional structured psychotherapy interventions during the study period.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
32 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Group DBT

    Receive 8-week Group DBT intervention

    Behavioral: group DBT

Interventions

  • Behavioralgroup DBT

    DBT skills group delivered over 8-weeks

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Adherence

    Percent sessions attended

    Time frame: post treatment (8 weeks after baseline)

  2. Retention rates

    Percent participants who complete 8-week study.

    Time frame: post treatment (8 weeks after baseline)

  3. Attrition

    Percent participants that dropout at 8 weeks

    Time frame: post treatment (8 weeks after baseline)

  4. Client Satisfaction Questionnaire

    A Likert scale from 1-4, total scores range from 8-32, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction.

    Time frame: post treatment (8 weeks after baseline)

  5. Timeline Follow Back (TLFB)

    A self-report method for substance use, and will be used to quantify the amount/frequency of cannabis in the past 14 days.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)

    a widely used instrument for the assessment of positive, negative and affective symptoms in individuals who have psychotic disorders. It consists of 18 symptom constructs. Total score range from 18-126, higher scores indicating higher severity.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  2. Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS)

    An instrument for measuring negative symptoms in schizophrenia. It assesses five symptom complexes to obtain clinical ratings of negative symptoms in participants with schizophrenia. They are: affective blunting; alogia (impoverished thinking); avolition/apathy; anhedonia/asociality; and disturbance of attention. Assessments are conducted on a six-point scale (0=not at all to 5=severe). Total score range from 0-110, higher scores indicating higher severity.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  3. Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS)

    4-point Likert type scale (0, absent; 1, mild; 2, moderate; 3, severe) with nine items. It is a reliable scale, with high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.855), and the CDSS is suitable for evaluating symptoms of depression in people at clinical high risk for psychosis Total score range from 0-27, higher scores indicating higher severity.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  4. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

    A psychological inventory consisting of 40 self-report items on a 4-point Likert scale. The STAI measures two types of anxiety - state anxiety and trait anxiety. Scores range from 20 to 80 for both state and trait anxiety, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  5. Borderline Symptom List (BSL-23)

    A well-established self-rating instrument to assess the severity of borderline typical psychopathology. The BSL-23 assesses 23 feelings and experiences typically reported by BPD patients, refers to the last week and has a range from 0 = 'not at all' to 4 = 'very strong. scores range from 0 to 92 with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  6. Difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS)

    A 36-item self-report measure of six facets of emotion regulation. Items are rated on a scale of 1 ("almost never \[0-10%\]") to 5 ("almost always \[91-100%\]"). Scores range from 36 to 180, with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  7. Global Functioning: Social and Role Scales

    Brief clinician-administered measures of social and role functioning, respectively, administered as a semi-structured interview with detailed anchors for ratings that address functional difficulties typically experienced by youth at risk for psychosis. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater functioning.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  8. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)

    A 25-item self-report rating scale designed to assess resilience, with higher scores being an indicator of high resilience. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale ranging from not true at all or zero to true nearly all the time or four. Scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater resilience.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  9. Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Involvement Scale (AADIS)

    A clinician rated instrument which evaluates an adolescent's use of alcohol and other drugs. The score is calculated from a weighted sum of item ratings on a scale of 1-12, where higher scores indicate more serious levels of involvement.

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  10. Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R)

    A self-report tool developed that aim to distinguish between different levels of cannabis use, cannabis use disorders and stage of change. It contains 8 items, two each from the domains of consumption, cannabis problems (abuse), dependence, and psychological features. score range 0-32, more indicating hazardous cannabis use and scores of 12 or more suggesting a possible cannabis use disorder

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

  11. Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)

    A semi-structured clinical interview that assesses suicidal ideation severity, suicidal ideation intensity, and suicidal behavior. intensity subscale (scored separately) that ranges from 0-25 by rating the frequency, duration, and controllability of ideation. Overall Score 0: No suicidal risk Score 1-2: Low risk; safety planning recommended as a best practice Score 3-6: Moderate to high risk; requires safety planning and close follow-up

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Sep 2026; primary completion for Sep 2027, 12 months later.

Of 455 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Psychotic Disorders, half reached primary completion within 34 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 19 and three quarters within 52. This study's planned 12 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 457 studies reached it within 34 months; a quarter within 19 and three quarters within 52.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 17, 2026
First posted
Aug 20, 2026
StartEst.
Sep 15, 2026
Primary completionEst.
Sep 30, 2027
CompletionEst.
Dec 30, 2027
Last update
Sep 16, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 16, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07777315
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 20, 2026
Start date
Sep 15, 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Sep 30, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 30, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 16, 2026

Study contacts

Omair Husain
Contact
omair.husain@camh.ca
416-535-8501 ext. 36467

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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