Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:26:23.967Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paranoid Explanations of Experience: A Novel Experimental Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2010

Catherine E. L. Green ,
Daniel Freeman ,
Elizabeth Kuipers ,
Paul Bebbington ,
David Fowler ,
Graham Dunn  and
Philippa A. Garety
Catherine E. L. Green*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Daniel Freeman
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Elizabeth Kuipers
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Paul Bebbington
Affiliation:
Royal Free and University College Medical School, University of London, UK
David Fowler
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, UK
Graham Dunn
Affiliation:
School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
Philippa A. Garety
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
*
Reprint requests to Catherine Green, Department of Psychology, King's College London, P.O. Box 077, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Paranoia is a common experience in the non-clinical population. We use a novel experimental methodology to investigate paranoid ideas in individuals without a history of mental illness. Aims: We aimed to determine whether this paradigm could elicit unfounded paranoid thoughts and whether these thoughts could be predicted by factors from a cognitive model. Method: Fifty-eight individuals took part and completed measures assessing trait paranoia, mood, self and other schema and attributional style. They were exposed to two experimental events: 1) an interruption to the testing session by a stooge, and 2) a recording of laughter played outside the testing room and subsequently asked about their explanations for these events. Results: 15.5% (n = 9) of the sample gave a paranoid explanation for at least one of the experimental events. The remainder reported generally neutral explanations. Individuals with a paranoid explanation reported significantly higher levels of trait paranoia. Factors predictive of a paranoid interpretation were interpersonal sensitivity and attributional style. Conclusions: The results show that spontaneous paranoid explanations can be elicited in non-clinical individuals, even for quite neutral events. In line with current theories, the findings suggest that emotional processes contribute to paranoid interpretations of events, although, as a novel study with a modest sample, it requires replication.

Keywords

Paranoiapersecutory delusionsexperimental design
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 21 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bentall, R. P., Corcoran, R., Howard, R., Blackwood, N. and Kinderman, P. (2001). Persecutory delusions: a review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 1143–1192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentall, R. P. and Kaney, S. (2005). Attributional lability in depression and paranoia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 475–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentall, R. P., Kinderman, P. and Kaney, S. (1994). The self, attributional processes and abnormal beliefs: towards a model of persecutory delusions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 331–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentall, R. P., Rowse, G., Shryane, N., Kinderman, P., Howard, R., Blackwood, N., Moore, R. and Corcoran, R. (2009). The cognitive and affective structure of paranoid delusions: a transdiagnostic investigation of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66, 236–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyce, P. and Parker, G. (1989). Development of a Scale of Interpersonal Sensitivity. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 23, 341–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Candido, D. L. and Romney, D. M. (1990). Attributional style in paranoid vs. depressed patients. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 63, 355–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chapman, L. and Chapman, J. (1988). The genesis of delusions. In Oltmanns, T. and Maher, B. (Eds.), Delusional Beliefs (pp. 167–183). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Combs, D. R., Penn, D. L., Michael, C. O., Basso, M. R., Wiederman, R., Siebenmorgan, M., Tiegreen, J. and Chapman, D. (2009). Perceptions of hostility by persons with and without persecutory delusions. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 14, 30–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellett, L. and Chadwick, P. (2007). Paranoid cognitions, failure and focus of attention in college students. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 558–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellett, L., Lopes, B. and Chadwick, P. (2003). Paranoia in a nonclinical population of college students. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 425–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, M. W. and van Berkum, J. (1992). Trait anxiety, defensiveness, and the structure of worry. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 1285–1290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fear, C., Sharp, H. and Healy, D. (1996). Cognitive processes in delusional disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 168, 1–8.Google Scholar
Fenigstein, A. and Vanable, P. A. (1992). Paranoia and self-consciousness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 129–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fowler, D., Freeman, D., Smith, B., Kuipers, E., Bebbington, P., Bashforth, H., Coker, S., Gracie, A., Dunn, G. and Garety, P. (2006). The Brief Core Schema Scales (BCSS): psychometric properties and associations with paranoia and grandiosity in non-clinical and psychosis samples. Psychological Medicine, 36, 749–759.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D. (2006). Delusions in the non-clinical population. Current Psychiatry Reports, 8, 191–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D. (2007). Suspicious minds: the psychology of persecutory delusions. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 425–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Dunn, G., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P., Slater, M., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D., Green, C., Jordan, J. and Ray, K. (2005). The psychology of persecutory ideation I: a questionnaire study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 193, 302–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D., Freeman, J. and Garety, P. (2006). Overcoming Paranoid and Suspicious Thoughts. London: Robinson Constable.Google Scholar
Freeman, D. and Garety, P. A. (2000). Comments on the contents of persecutory delusions: does the definition need clarification? British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 407–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D. and Garety, P. A. (2003). Connecting neurosis and psychosis: the direct influence of emotion on delusions and hallucinations. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 923–924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P., Slater, M., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D., Green, C., Jordan, J., Ray, K. and Dunn, G. (2005a). The psychology of persecutory ideation, II: a virtual reality experimental study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 193, 309–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P. E., Smith, B., Rollinson, R., Fowler, D., Kuipers, E., Ray, K. and Dunn, G. (2005b). Psychological investigation of the structure of paranoia in a non-clinical population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186, 427–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Fowler, D., Kuipers, E., Bebbington, P. and Dunn, G. (2004). Why do people with delusions fail to choose more realistic explanations for their experiences? An empirical investigation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 671–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A. and Kuipers, E. (2001). Persecutory delusions: developing an understanding of belief maintenance and emotional distress. Psychological Medicine, 31, 1293–1306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D. and Bebbington, P. (2002). A cognitive model of persecutory delusions. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 41, 331–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Garety, P., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D., Bebbington, P. E. and Dunn, G. (2007). Acting on persecutory delusions: the importance of safety seeking. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 89–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Gittins, M., Pugh, K., Antley, A., Slater, M. and Dunn, G. (2008). What makes one person paranoid and another person anxious? The differential prediction of social anxiety and persecutory ideation in an experimental situation. Psychological Medicine, 38, 1121–1132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D., Pugh, K., Antley, A., Slater, M., Bebbington, P., Gittins, M., Dunn, G., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D. and Garety, P. A. (2008). A virtual reality study of paranoid thinking in the general population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 258–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D., Slater, M., Bebbington, P. E., Garety, P. A., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D., Met, A., Read, C., Jordan, J. and Vinayagamoorthy, V. (2003). Can virtual reality be used to investigate persecutory ideation? The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 509–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garety, P. A. and Hemsley, D. R. (1994). Delusions: investigations into the psychology of delusional reasoning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Green, C., Freeman, D., Kuipers, E., Bebbington, P., Fowler, D., Dunn, G. and Garety, P. A. (2008). Measuring ideas of persecution and reference: the Green et al. Paranoid Thought Scales (G-PTS). Psychological Medicine, 38, 101–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johns, L. C., Cannon, M., Singleton, N., Murray, R. M., Farrell, M., Brugha, T., Bebbington, P., Jenkins, R. and Meltzer, H. (2004). Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 298–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jolley, S., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P. E., Dunn, G., Freeman, D., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D. and Hemsley, D. (2006). Attributional style in psychosis: the role of affect and belief type. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1597–1607.Google Scholar
Kinderman, P. and Bentall, R. P. (1996). A new measure of causal locus: the Internal, Personal and Situational Attributions Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 261–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinderman, P. and Bentall, R. P. (1997). Causal attributions in paranoia and depression: internal, personal and situational attributions for negative events. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 341–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinderman, P. and Bentall, R. P. (2000). Self-discrepancies and causal attributions: studies of hypothesized relationships. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 255–273.Google Scholar
Lovibond, P. F. and Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 335–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyon, H. M., Kaney, S. and Bentall, R. P. (1994). The defensive function of persecutory delusions: evidence from attribution tasks. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 637–647.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maher, B. A. (1974). Delusional thinking and perceptual disorder. Journal of Individual Psychology, 30, 98–113.Google ScholarPubMed
Maher, B. A. (1988). Anomalous experience and delusional thinking: the logic of explanations. In Oltmanns, T. F. and Maher, B. A. (Eds.), Delusional Beliefs (pp. 15–33). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Martin, J. A. and Penn, D. L. (2001). Social cognition and subclinical paranoid ideation. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 40, 261–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myin-Germeys, I., Krabbendam, L. and van Os, J. (2003). Continuity of psychotic symptoms in the community. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 16, 443–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, E. R., Joseph, S. and Garety, P. A. (1999). The assessment of delusions in normal and psychotic populations: introducing the PDI (Peters et al., Delusions Inventory). Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25, 553–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Startup, H., Freeman, D. and Garety, P. A. (2007). Persecutory delusions and catastrophic worry in psychosis: developing the understanding of delusion distress and persistence. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 523–537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Startup, M. and Startup, S. (2005). On two kinds of delusions of reference. Psychiatry Research, 137, 87–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, J. S. (1969). Hallucinations and delusions as points on continua function. Archives of General Psychiatry, 20, 581–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trower, P. and Chadwick, P. (1995). Pathways to defence of the self: a theory of two types of paranoia. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2, 263–278.Google Scholar
van Os, J., Hanssen, M., Bijl, R. V. and Ravelli, A. (2000). Strauss (1969) revisited: a psychosis continuum in the general population? Schizophrenia Research, 45, 11–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Os, J., Linscott, R. J., Myin-Germys, I., Delespaul, P. and Krabbendam, L. (2009). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the psychosis continuum: evidence for a psychosis proneness-persistence-impairment model of psychotic disorder. Psychological Medicine, 39, 175–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verdoux, H., Maurice-Tison, S., Gay, B., van Os, J., Salamon, R. and Bourgeois, M. L. (1998). A survey of delusional ideation in primary-care patients. Psychological Medicine, 28, 127–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, D. and Friend, R. (1969). Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 448–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organisation (1992). SCAN: Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.