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An Empirical Study of Defensive Avoidance in Paranoia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Michael Moutoussis ,
Wael El-Deredy  and
Richard P. Bentall
Michael Moutoussis*
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, and Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK
Wael El-Deredy
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, UK
Richard P. Bentall
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, UK
*
Reprint requests to Michael Moutoussis, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background: There is controversy as to whether psychological defensive avoidance is associated with paranoia. Aims: To elucidate whether “Poor-me” paranoid patients, who believe that the persecution they perceive is undeserved, show more prominent avoidance of negative thoughts about themselves than healthy and clinical controls. Method: The act of avoidance of aversive mental contents was assessed in 27 healthy controls and 48 patients with poor-me, bad-me (perceived to be deserved) or no paranoia. Defensive avoidance was assessed via established questionnaires, a novel task based on self-discrepancy theory and research-clinician ratings. Results: Participants in all groups showed substantial levels of verbal defensive avoidance. Paranoia was associated with reduced self-reported tolerance of negative mental contents (high Experiential Avoidance, EA). Contrary to our hypotheses, poor-me and bad-me patients showed similar EA. All participant groups showed similar levels of verbal defensive avoidance. Conclusion: The findings do not support an association of psychological avoidance with paranoia.

Keywords

Psychological defenceavoidancebad-me paranoiapoor-me paranoiaself-discrepancies
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 182 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2013 

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