Development and pilot investigation of behavioral activation for negative symptoms.

Mairs et al. (2011) ran a small case-series pilot. They tested behavioral activation on adults with psychosis who also showed negative symptoms.

The team wanted to know if BA, a depression treatment, could be used for flat affect, low motivation, and social withdrawal.

The adults stayed in treatment and staff could run the protocol. Negative symptoms showed small but clear improvement.

Results say BA is doable in this new population and may chip away at hard-to-treat negative signs.

Kanter et al. (2010) tried a similar BA core but aimed it at Latinas with depression. Both pilots report good feasibility and positive signals, so the method travels across cultures and diagnoses.

Moitra et al. (2015) and Goodwin et al. (2012) also ran brief, no-control pilots with adults. Each saw small gains, showing the case-series design is common for first-step ABA work.

Gormley et al. (2019) used a full RCT to train ID staff. Their stronger design gives medium, solid gains, hinting that future BA work should add control groups and larger samples.

If you serve adults with psychosis, you can add BA to your toolbox. Start with one or two clients, track attendance and negative-symptom ratings weekly, and use simple activity logs. The pilot says you will likely see small, steady gains without extra burden on staff.