This book forms part of the International Society for the Psychological Treatments of Schizophrenias and Other Psychoses book series and aims to show how CBT approaches to psychosis (CBTp) offer “a shift away from a biological understanding and towards a psychological understanding of psychosis”. The book contains 17 chapters from international contributors divided into four sections: cognitive models of psychosis and their assessment, the practice of CBT for persons with psychotic symptoms, CBT and co-occurring problems, and CBT and bipolar disorders.

I did not feel the book achieved its aim of showing a shift towards a psychological understanding of psychosis. This may partly reflect the tensions inherent in an edited work, with individual authors taking different positions in relation to understandings of psychosis, reflected for instance in the language used to describe associated experiences (“auditory hallucinations” compared to “anomalous experiences”). However, I felt the book lacked a conceptually robust overview of a CBT psychological approach to psychosis. In addition, there were references within individual chapters to a lifelong course of schizophrenia and the inevitability of disability and distress that, for me, sat uncomfortably with epidemiological findings and more recent research and theorizing in psychological approaches to psychosis. I would suggest readers looking for an overview of psychological understandings of psychosis might be better reading Richard Bentall's book Madness Explained.

However, in contrast, individual chapters were successful in summarizing a psychological symptom-based approach. In particular, Emmanuelle Peters provides a useful overview of assessment for psychotic experiences; Peter Kinderman concisely summarizes cognitive models of auditory hallucinations; Robert Dudley and Douglas Turkington provide a useful and succinct summary of the role of normalizing in CBTp; Andrew Gumley considers the role of emotion in recovery from psychosis and the contribution of an attachment perspective to a CBT approach; David Kavanagh and Kim Mueser clearly summarize treatment approaches to substance misuse in the context of psychosis; and Sara Tai's chapter on the psychology of bipolar disorders gives a useful overview. I particularly liked Hoaas and colleagues’ chapter on the role of the therapeutic alliance in CBTp. These authors emphasize the adaptations that need to be made to CBT when working with people experiencing psychosis and recognize the role of the therapist's attitudes, including being able to maintain hope of positive outcomes. In summary, this book is probably of most interest to those already familiar with the field. It would be a useful reference book, especially in relation to the chapters mentioned above.