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Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports 2018This review identifies the early developmental processes that contribute to schizotypy and suspiciousness in adolescence and adulthood. It includes the most recent... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW
This review identifies the early developmental processes that contribute to schizotypy and suspiciousness in adolescence and adulthood. It includes the most recent literature on these phenomena in childhood.
RECENT FINDINGS
The early developmental processes that affect schizotypy and paranoia in later life are complex. In contrast to existing studies of psychiatric patients and clinical/nonclinical adult populations, the study of schizotypy and suspiciousness in young children and adolescents is possible due to new child-appropriate dimensional assessments. New assessments and the advancement of technology (e.g., virtual reality in mental health) as well as statistical modeling (e.g., mediation and latent-class analyses) in large data have helped identified the developmental aspects (e.g., psychosocial, neurocognitive and brain factors, nutrition, and childhood correlates) that predict schizotypy and suspiciousness in later life.
SUMMARY
Prospective longitudinal designs in community youths can enhance our understanding of the etiology of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and, in the future, the development of preventive interventions by extending adult theories and interventions to younger populations.
PubMed: 29577010
DOI: 10.1007/s40473-018-0144-y -
Scientific Reports Dec 2023Although mostly considered distinct, conspiracy mentality and paranoia share conceptual similarities (e.g., persecutory content, resistance to disconfirming evidence)....
Although mostly considered distinct, conspiracy mentality and paranoia share conceptual similarities (e.g., persecutory content, resistance to disconfirming evidence). Using self-report data from a large and multinational online sample (N = 2510; from the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Germany, and Australia), we examined whether paranoia and conspiracy mentality represent distinct latent constructs in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Utilising network analysis, we then explored common and unique correlates of paranoia and conspiracy mentality while accounting for their shared variance. Across sites, paranoia and conspiracy mentality presented distinct, yet weakly correlated (r = 0.26), constructs. Both were associated with past traumatic experiences, holding negative beliefs about the self and other people, sleep problems, and a tendency to worry. However, paranoia was related to increased negative affect (i.e., anxiety) and decreased social support, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for conspiracy mentality (i.e., decreased anxiety and depression, increased social support). Paranoia and conspiracy mentality are related but not the same constructs. Their similar and distinct correlates point to common and unique risk factors and underlying mechanisms.
Topics: Humans; Paranoid Disorders; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Self Report; Interpersonal Relations
PubMed: 38123615
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47923-x -
Schizophrenia Research Mar 2022Paranoia is associated with significant distress and is associated with childhood trauma. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for this association is important for...
Paranoia is associated with significant distress and is associated with childhood trauma. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for this association is important for informing psychological interventions. Theoretical proposals suggest that negative schema and insecure attachment may be important mechanisms in the development of paranoia. Disorganised attachment may be particularly relevant. The current study is the first to examine whether the relationship between childhood interpersonal trauma and paranoia is mediated by disorganised attachment, and the impact of disorganised attachment on negative self and negative other schema. A large online sample of 242 people with self-reported psychosis completed measures of childhood trauma, attachment, self and other schema, paranoia and psychosis symptomatology. Path analysis indicated that childhood interpersonal trauma was associated with disorganised attachment, which in turn was associated with negative self-schema, negative other schema, and paranoia. Negative schema about others, but not self, was associated with paranoia. Disorganised attachment and negative other schema fully mediated the relationship between trauma and paranoia. Negative other schema partially mediated the association between disorganised attachment and paranoia. Results were found when controlling for depression, hallucinations and age. Results suggest that interventions that aim to modify disorganised attachment patterns and negative schema about others can potentially alleviate the impact of trauma on paranoia. Findings provide justification for longitudinal studies to confirm the direction of effects, and intervention studies that aim to manipulate disorganised attachment and negative schema about others and observe the impact of this on paranoia.
Topics: Adverse Childhood Experiences; Hallucinations; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Paranoid Disorders; Psychotic Disorders
PubMed: 35123337
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.01.043 -
Schizophrenia Research. Cognition Sep 2022Paranoid ideation is a core feature of psychosis and is associated with impaired social functioning. Severity of paranoia can fluctuate across time as symptoms wax and...
BACKGROUND
Paranoid ideation is a core feature of psychosis and is associated with impaired social functioning. Severity of paranoia can fluctuate across time as symptoms wax and wane; however, no study has systematically investigated how this intra-individual variability in paranoia may relate to social impairments and social functioning.
METHODS
Fifty-five patients with DSM-5 diagnoses and recent paranoia were followed for up to one year and completed the suspiciousness/persecution section (P6) of the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) on a monthly basis to monitor fluctuations in paranoia. Categorical changes between paranoid and non-paranoid status were monitored and tallied. Participants self-reported current paranoia and anxiety levels as well as social functioning when demonstrating paranoia changes.
RESULTS
Most patients showed changes between paranoid categories (60%). Individuals with no paranoia change showed higher current paranoia and lower independence-competence subscores of the Birchwood Social Functioning Scale (SFS) compared with those with one change. Current paranoia and state anxiety explained significant variance in the prosocial activities subscore of SFS, and importantly, paranoia changes accounted for variance above and beyond these effects. Individuals with higher current paranoia participated less in prosocial activities, however those with higher paranoia variability were more involved in social activities. Similarly, individuals with more paranoia variability demonstrated better overall social functioning as measured by the averaged SFS total score.
CONCLUSION
Paranoia fluctuation is prevalent across time, and both paranoia severity and variability impact social functioning, in that lower levels of paranoia severity and higher levels of paranoia variability are associated with better interpersonal functioning.
PubMed: 35620385
DOI: 10.1016/j.scog.2022.100258 -
Journal of Abnormal Psychology Feb 2021Paranoia is the exaggerated belief that harm will occur and is intended by others. Although commonly framed in terms of attributing malicious intent to others, recent...
Paranoia is the exaggerated belief that harm will occur and is intended by others. Although commonly framed in terms of attributing malicious intent to others, recent work has explored how paranoia also affects social decision-making, using economic games. Previous work found that paranoia is associated with decreased cooperation and increased punishment in the Dictator Game (where cooperating and punishing involve paying a cost to respectively increase or decrease a partner's income). These findings suggest that paranoia might be associated with variation in subjective reward from positive and/or negative social decision-making, a possibility we explore using a preregistered experiment with U.S.-based participants (n = 2,004). Paranoia was associated with increased self-reported enjoyment of negative social interactions and decreased self-reported enjoyment of prosocial interactions. More paranoid participants attributed stronger harmful intent to a partner. Harmful intent attributions and the enjoyment of negative social interactions positively predicted the tendency to pay to punish the partner. Cooperation was positively associated with the tendency to enjoy prosocial interactions and increased with participant age. There was no main effect of paranoia on tendency to cooperate in this setting. We discuss these findings in light of previous research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Female; Humans; Intention; Male; Middle Aged; Paranoid Disorders; Punishment; Reward; Social Interaction; Social Perception; United States; Young Adult
PubMed: 33271038
DOI: 10.1037/abn0000647 -
European Archives of Psychiatry and... Feb 2022Social isolation has been suggested to foster paranoia. Here we investigate whether social company (i.e., being alone vs. not) and its nature (i.e., stranger/distant vs....
Social isolation has been suggested to foster paranoia. Here we investigate whether social company (i.e., being alone vs. not) and its nature (i.e., stranger/distant vs. familiar other) affects paranoia differently depending on psychosis risk. Social interactions and paranoid thinking in daily life were investigated in 29 patients with clinically stable non-affective psychotic disorders, 20 first-degree relatives, and 26 controls (n = 75), using the experience sampling method (ESM). ESM was completed up to ten times daily for 1 week. Patients experienced marginally greater paranoia than relatives [b = 0.47, p = 0.08, 95% CI (- 0.06, 1.0)] and significantly greater paranoia than controls [b = 0.55, p = 0.03, 95% CI (0.5, 1.0)], but controls and relatives did not differ [b = 0.07, p = 0.78, 95% CI (- 0.47, 0.61)]. Patients were more often alone [68.5% vs. 44.8% and 56.2%, respectively, p = 0.057] and experienced greater paranoia when alone than when in company [b = 0.11, p = 0.016, 95% CI (0.02, 0.19)]. In relatives this was reversed [b = - 0.17, p < 0.001, 95% CI (- 0.28, - 0.07)] and in controls non-significant [b = - 0.02, p = 0.67, 95% CI (- 0.09, 0.06)]. The time-lagged association between being in social company and subsequent paranoia was non-significant and paranoia did not predict the likelihood of being in social company over time (both p's = 0.68). All groups experienced greater paranoia in company of strangers/distant others than familiar others [X(2) = 4.56, p = 0.03] and being with familiar others was associated with lower paranoia over time [X(2) = 4.9, p = 0.03]. Patients are frequently alone. Importantly, social company appears to limit their paranoia, particularly when being with familiar people. The findings stress the importance of interventions that foster social engagement and ties with family and friends.
Topics: Humans; Paranoid Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Social Interaction; Social Isolation
PubMed: 34129115
DOI: 10.1007/s00406-021-01278-4 -
Scientific Reports Oct 2019Recent studies have shown that worry and related negative metacognitions are characteristic in generalized anxiety and paranoia respectively. However, most of these...
Recent studies have shown that worry and related negative metacognitions are characteristic in generalized anxiety and paranoia respectively. However, most of these studies did not take into account common co-occurrence of anxiety and paranoia, and longitudinal modelling of the role of worry and metacognitions on the development of anxiety and paranoia is rare. The current study aimed at examining the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between anxiety and paranoia, as well as the importance of worry and metacognitions in the development of these symptoms. Our validated sample consisted of 2291 participants recruited from universities, among whom 1746 participants (76.21%) completed online questionnaires at baseline and at one year, reporting levels of anxiety, paranoia, worry, and negative metacognitions. Structural equation modeling analyses, followed by path comparisons, revealed that anxiety and paranoia mutually reinforced each other over time. Negative metacognitions, rather than worry itself, were contributive to the development of both symptoms over time. Negative metacognitions showed bi-directional relationships with anxiety over the time period assessed and showed uni-directional relationships with paranoia. Clinical implications of our findings are discussed.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Affective Symptoms; Anxiety; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Metacognition; Paranoid Disorders; Psychological Distress; Students; Surveys and Questionnaires; Universities; Young Adult
PubMed: 31605005
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51280-z -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022Paranoia is associated with a multitude of social cognitive deficits, observed in both clinical and subclinical populations. Empathy is significantly and broadly...
BACKGROUND
Paranoia is associated with a multitude of social cognitive deficits, observed in both clinical and subclinical populations. Empathy is significantly and broadly impaired in schizophrenia, yet its relationship with subclinical paranoia is poorly understood. Furthermore, deficits in emotion recognition - a very early component of empathic processing - are present in both clinical and subclinical paranoia. Deficits in emotion recognition may therefore underlie relationships between paranoia and empathic processing. The current investigation aims to add to the literature on social cognition and paranoia by: (1) characterizing the relationship between paranoia and empathy, and (2) testing whether there is an indirect effect of emotion recognition on the relationship between empathy and paranoia.
METHODS
Paranoia, empathy, and emotion recognition were assessed in a non-clinical sample of adults ( = 226) from the Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland (NKI-Rockland) dataset. Paranoia was measured using the Peters Delusions Inventory-21 (PDI-21). Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a self-report instrument designed to assess empathy using four subscales: Personal Distress, Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking, and Fantasy. Emotion recognition was assessed using the Penn Emotion Recognition Test (ER-40). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to estimate relationships between paranoia, the four measures of empathy and emotion recognition.
RESULTS
Paranoia was associated with the Fantasy subscale of the IRI, such that higher Fantasy was associated with more severe paranoia ( < 0.001). No other empathy subscales were associated with paranoia. Fantasy was also associated with the emotion recognition of fear, such that higher Fantasy was correlated with better recognition of fear ( = 0.008). Paranoia and emotion recognition were not significantly associated. The Empathic Concern subscale was negatively associated with emotion recognition, with higher empathic concern related to worse overall emotion recognition ( = 0.002). All indirect paths through emotion recognition were non-significant.
DISCUSSION
These results suggest that imaginative perspective-taking contributes to paranoia in the general population. These data do not, however, point to robust global relationships between empathy and paranoia or to emotion recognition as an underlying mechanism. Deficits in empathy and emotion recognition observed in schizophrenia may be associated with the broader pathology of schizophrenia, and therefore not detectable with subclinical populations.
PubMed: 35282255
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.804178 -
The Journal of Nervous and Mental... Sep 2022This case series reports three middle-aged male patients with no prior history of psychiatric disorders who developed psychotic symptoms with manic characteristics after...
This case series reports three middle-aged male patients with no prior history of psychiatric disorders who developed psychotic symptoms with manic characteristics after COVID-19 infection. They presented mystic and paranoid delusions associated with euphoria, logorrheic, insomnia, and bizarre behaviors. Two of them required psychiatric hospitalization and one received corticosteroids. Treatment with antipsychotic medication improved their symptoms in a few weeks. This case series reports the new-onset psychosis probably due to COVID-19 infection. Pathogenetic speculation about the probable causes of COVID-19 psychosis, such as inflammatory reaction and corticosteroid use, was done. Moreover, other probable causes of manic psychosis, such as late-onset bipolar disorder, were also considered and ruled out. There is a need for more research to determine the causality between psychotic symptoms and COVID-19 infection.
Topics: Antipsychotic Agents; Bipolar Disorder; COVID-19; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Psychotic Disorders; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 36037326
DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001488 -
Spanish Journal of Psychiatry and... 2024Population studies on social anxiety disorder (SAD) are relatively scarce and there is no previous reported evidence on prevalence or correlates of SAD in an Andalusian...
INTRODUCTION
Population studies on social anxiety disorder (SAD) are relatively scarce and there is no previous reported evidence on prevalence or correlates of SAD in an Andalusian general population sample.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
We used a random representative sample previously identified via standard stratification procedures. Thus, a final sample of 4507 participants were included (response rate 83.7%). Interviewees were thoroughly assessed on sociodemographic, clinical and psychosocial factors, including: exposures to threatening life events (TLEs), childhood abuse, personality disorder and traits (neuroticism, impulsivity, paranoia), global functioning, physical health and toxics consumption. SAD diagnosis was ascertained using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Both, pooled prevalences (with 95% confidence intervals) and risk correlates for SAD were estimated using binary logistic regression.
RESULTS
Estimated prevalence for SAD was 1.1% (95% CI=0.8-1.4). Having a SAD diagnosis was independently and significantly associated with younger age, poorer global functioning, higher neuroticism and paranoia personality traits, having suffered childhood abuse and exposure to previous TLEs. Furthermore, SAD was significantly associated with comorbid personality disorder, major depression, panic disorder and alcohol abuse.
CONCLUSIONS
Among this large Andalusian population sample, the prevalence of SAD and its associated factors are relatively similar to previously reported international studies, although no population study had previously reported such a strong association with paranoia.
Topics: Humans; Phobia, Social; Female; Male; Adult; Middle Aged; Spain; Prevalence; Young Adult; Adolescent; Comorbidity; Aged; Personality Disorders
PubMed: 38720187
DOI: 10.1016/j.rpsm.2021.09.006