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Anxiety, Stress, and Coping May 2023Anxiety is a dominant emotion in schizophrenia. It is most often diagnosed by questionnaire-based methods. In this study, it was decided to analyse the utterances of...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Anxiety is a dominant emotion in schizophrenia. It is most often diagnosed by questionnaire-based methods. In this study, it was decided to analyse the utterances of patients with schizophrenia for the occurrence of lexical indicators of anxiety, which are a good predictor of experienced anxiety and lie beyond the subject's control.
DESIGN
The indicators most frequently described in the literature and considered to be of the most significant diagnostic value were selected: first-person pronouns and verbs; causal expressions and conjunctions; affirmative and negative particles; and dogmatic expressions. It was assumed that more of these would appear in the utterances of people with schizophrenia than in the utterances of healthy subjects.
METHODS
The study was conducted on 130 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 130 healthy subjects. They were asked to describe five pictures.
RESULTS
In all verbal indicators of anxiety (except for negative particles) patients with positive schizophrenia attained the highest values, differing significantly from the results for the control groups.
CONCLUSION
This result is consistent with the subject literature, which emphasizes the high level of anxiety in schizophrenia, especially in its first phase, when the generative symptoms of the illness predominate.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia, Paranoid; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Emotions; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 35561064
DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2022.2076081 -
Schizophrenia Bulletin Sep 2019Adolescence can be a challenging time, characterized by self-consciousness, heightened regard for peer acceptance, and fear of rejection. Interpersonal concerns are...
BACKGROUND
Adolescence can be a challenging time, characterized by self-consciousness, heightened regard for peer acceptance, and fear of rejection. Interpersonal concerns are amplified by unpredictable social interactions, both online and offline. This developmental and social context is potentially conducive to the emergence of paranoia. However, research on paranoia during adolescence is scarce.
METHOD
Our aim was to examine the prevalence, structure, and probabilistic causal mechanisms of adolescent paranoia. A representative school cohort of 801 adolescents (11-15 y) completed measures of paranoia and a range of affective, cognitive, and social factors. A Bayesian approach with Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) was used to assess the causal interactions with paranoia.
RESULTS
Paranoid thoughts were very common, followed a continuous distribution, and were hierarchically structured. There was an overall paranoia factor, with sub-factors of social fears, physical threat fears, and conspiracy concerns. With all other variables controlled, DAG analysis identified paranoia had dependent relationships with negative affect, peer difficulties, bullying, and cognitive-affective responses to social media. The causal directions could not be fully determined, but it was more likely that negative affect contributed to paranoia and paranoia impacted peer relationships. Problematic social media use did not causally influence paranoia.
CONCLUSIONS
There is a continuum of paranoia in adolescence and occasional suspicions are common at this age. Anxiety and depression are closely connected with paranoia and may causally contribute to its development. Paranoia may negatively impact adolescent peer relationships. The clinical significance of paranoia in adolescents accessing mental health services must now be established.
Topics: Adolescent; Affect; Bayes Theorem; Bullying; Causality; Child; Cognition; Cohort Studies; Female; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Paranoid Behavior; Paranoid Disorders; Peer Group; Prevalence; Social Media; United Kingdom
PubMed: 30534970
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sby180 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Mar 2022This study aimed to review the neurobiological and neuropsychological correlates of paranoid (persecutory delusions) and misidentification (misidentification delusions... (Review)
Review
This study aimed to review the neurobiological and neuropsychological correlates of paranoid (persecutory delusions) and misidentification (misidentification delusions and/or hallucinations) subtypes of psychosis in dementia, to establish if they represent distinct subphenotypes. Nine studies were eligible, all included patients with Alzheimer's disease. Greater global cognitive deficits and an accelerated global cognitive decline were observed in the misidentification subtype. Neuroimaging studies showed more marked volume loss in multiple regions in patients with the misidentification subtype, including those involved in object recognition and the processing of information on spatial and temporal context. A single study found greater impairment in visual sustained attention and object recognition in the misidentification subtype. The small number of studies and methodological heterogeneity limit interpretation of the findings. Nevertheless, these findings would tentatively suggest that there may be additional or accelerated pathological change in functional networks involved in visuoperceptual processing in the misidentification subtype. This should be further explored in prospective studies and the investigation extended to other forms of dementia, to gain a transdiagnostic perspective.
Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Delusions; Hallucinations; Humans; Prospective Studies; Psychotic Disorders
PubMed: 35032536
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104529 -
Schizophrenia Research Mar 2023There is a dearth of research examining how individual-level and systemic racism may lead to elevated diagnostic and symptom rates of paranoia in Black Americans. The...
There is a dearth of research examining how individual-level and systemic racism may lead to elevated diagnostic and symptom rates of paranoia in Black Americans. The present study employed item response theory methods to investigate item- and subscale-level functioning in the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) in 388 Black and 450 White participants across the schizophrenia-spectrum (i.e., non-psychiatric controls, individuals with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizotypal personality disorder). It was predicted that (1) Black participants would score significantly higher than Whites on the Suspiciousness and Paranoid Ideation subscale of the SPQ, while controlling for total SPQ severity and relevant demographics and (2) Black participants would endorse these subscale items at a lower latent severity level (i.e., total SPQ score) compared to Whites. Generalized linear modeling showed that Black participants endorsed higher scores on subscales sampling paranoia (e.g., Suspiciousness and Paranoid Ideation), while White participants endorsed higher rates within disorganized/positive symptomatology subscales (e.g., Odd or Eccentric Behavior). IRT analyses showed that Black individuals also endorse items within the Suspiciousness and Paranoid Ideation subscale at lower latent severity levels, leading to inflated subscale scores when compared to their White counterparts. Results indicate prominent race effects on self-reported paranoia as assessed by the SPQ. This study provides foundational data to parse what could be normative endorsements of paranoia versus indicators of clinical risk in Black Americans. Implications and recommendations for paranoia research and assessment are discussed.
Topics: Humans; Self Report; Paranoid Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Schizotypal Personality Disorder; Surveys and Questionnaires; Personality
PubMed: 34895794
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2021.11.034 -
Nature Human Behaviour Sep 2021The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world seem less predictable. Such crises can lead people to feel that others are a threat. Here, we show that the initial phase of the...
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world seem less predictable. Such crises can lead people to feel that others are a threat. Here, we show that the initial phase of the pandemic in 2020 increased individuals' paranoia and made their belief updating more erratic. A proactive lockdown made people's belief updating less capricious. However, state-mandated mask-wearing increased paranoia and induced more erratic behaviour. This was most evident in states where adherence to mask-wearing rules was poor but where rule following is typically more common. Computational analyses of participant behaviour suggested that people with higher paranoia expected the task to be more unstable. People who were more paranoid endorsed conspiracies about mask-wearing and potential vaccines and the QAnon conspiracy theories. These beliefs were associated with erratic task behaviour and changed priors. Taken together, we found that real-world uncertainty increases paranoia and influences laboratory task behaviour.
Topics: Attitude to Health; COVID-19; Culture; Health Policy; Humans; Infection Control; Masks; Pandemics; Paranoid Disorders
PubMed: 34316049
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01176-8 -
Schizophrenia Research. Cognition Sep 2020It is common, among clinical and non-clinical populations alike, for paranoia and anxiety to co-occur. It has been suggested that anxiety and its related appraisal...
OBJECTIVES
It is common, among clinical and non-clinical populations alike, for paranoia and anxiety to co-occur. It has been suggested that anxiety and its related appraisal styles may contribute to development of paranoia. We aimed to evaluate different aspects of risk perception in relation to paranoia and anxiety and to identify specific aspects that may differentiate paranoia from anxiety. This paper consists of two inter-related studies.
METHODS
Study 1 compared 30 patients with persecutory delusions, 21 patients with generalized anxiety disorder and 52 healthy controls. Study 2 compared 30 non-clinical individuals with high levels of paranoia and anxiety, 28 individuals with high anxiety only and 36 healthy controls. Within each study, the two symptomatic groups were matched on level of anxiety. Four dimensions of risk perception (i.e. likelihood, harm, controllability, and intentionality) were compared across groups, as measured by the locally validated Risk Perception Questionnaire.
RESULTS
In both studies, the paranoia and the anxiety groups reported an elevated perceived likelihood of negative events than controls respectively. Only the paranoia groups reported an elevated perceived harm of neutral events than controls. In Study 2, the two at-risk groups attributed more harm and intentionality to negative events than controls.
CONCLUSION
Although perception of negative events was characteristic in anxiety (with or without paranoia), a biased perception of neutral events as risky was unique to the addition of paranoia. Implications to the transdiagnostic and continual view of psychopathology, and mechanism-based interventions were discussed.
PubMed: 32547929
DOI: 10.1016/j.scog.2020.100176 -
BMJ Mental Health Nov 2023Paranoia-incorrectly thinking that others are deliberating trying to harm you-causes distress, undermines social interactions and leads to withdrawal. It presents across...
BACKGROUND
Paranoia-incorrectly thinking that others are deliberating trying to harm you-causes distress, undermines social interactions and leads to withdrawal. It presents across multiple psychiatric diagnoses.
OBJECTIVE
The primary aim was to determine the extent that cognitive and social processes may explain paranoia. The secondary aim was to identify explanatory factors that distinguished paranoia and social anxiety.
METHODS
10 382 UK adults, quota sampled to match the population for age, gender, ethnicity, income and region, participated in a non-probability survey. All participants completed a paranoia measure and assessments of cognitive and social processes. Structural equation modelling was conducted.
FINDINGS
2586 (24.9%) participants described being mistrustful of other people. 1756 (16.9%) participants wanted help to trust more. 66.7% of variance in paranoia was explained by a model comprising (in descending order of importance): within-situation defence behaviours, negative images, negative self-beliefs, discrimination, dissociation, aberrant salience, anxiety sensitivity, agoraphobic distress, worry, less social support, agoraphobic avoidance, less analytical reasoning and alcohol use. All explanatory factors were associated with paranoia and social anxiety. Ten factors were more closely associated with paranoia than social anxiety, including discrimination, hallucinations, negative images, aberrant salience and alcohol use. Nine factors were more closely associated with social anxiety, including less positive self-belief, an external locus of control, worry and less analytical reasoning.
CONCLUSIONS
Multiple causes are likely to be involved in paranoia. Cognitive and social processes may explain a high degree of paranoia.
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
Multiple clear targets for intervention to reduce paranoia are identified.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Paranoid Disorders; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Fear; Cognition
PubMed: 37945313
DOI: 10.1136/bmjment-2023-300880 -
Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical... Feb 2022Evidence suggests that self-esteem is an important mechanism in pathways to psychosis. However, whether low or high self-esteem is associated with psychotic experiences...
Evidence suggests that self-esteem is an important mechanism in pathways to psychosis. However, whether low or high self-esteem is associated with psychotic experiences remains unclear. Besides, a limited number of studies has investigated fluctuations in state self-esteem in psychotic patients. This study investigated cross-sectional and temporal associations of momentary self-esteem and fluctuations in self-esteem with psychotic symptoms in three groups with different levels of (familial) liability to psychotic disorder. Using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), momentary self-esteem, fluctuations in self-esteem (i.e., variability and instability), and psychotic experiences, paranoia, negative symptoms (i.e., event anhedonia and social anhedonia), intensity of negative affect and altered affective experiences (instability and variability in negative affect) were assessed in 147 psychotic patients, 131 of their siblings and 113 controls. Lower levels of momentary self-esteem were associated with an increased intensity of psychotic experiences, paranoia and negative affect, with the magnitude of the associations for momentary self-esteem being greatest in patients, followed by relatives. Variability in self-esteem was associated with psychotic and paranoid experiences, the magnitudes were greatest in relatives. Furthermore, we found reciprocal effects between momentary self-esteem and psychotic experiences, paranoia, negative affect, and instability in negative affect. These findings suggest that individuals with familial liability to psychosis (patients and their first-degree relatives) might benefit from targeting momentary self-esteem and variability in self-esteem to decrease the intensity of psychotic experiences, paranoia, and negative affect in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Cross-Sectional Studies; Ecological Momentary Assessment; Humans; Paranoid Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Self Concept
PubMed: 35230860
DOI: 10.1037/abn0000722 -
Ideggyogyaszati Szemle May 2023
Although rumination and schizotypal traits can be considered transdiagnostic phenomena and can occur within non-clinical population as well, a relatively small...
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Although rumination and schizotypal traits can be considered transdiagnostic phenomena and can occur within non-clinical population as well, a relatively small number of research has been carried out on the topic involving both patient and non clinical participants. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between schizotypal traits and rumination using a transdiagnostic approach, involving participants living with psychotic disorders and sine morbo individuals.
.METHODS
We recruited participants living with psychotic disorders (paranoid schizophrenia, hebephrenia, schizoaffective disorder, etc.) (n = 30) and controls who had not been diagnosed with any mental illnesses (n = 67). The connection between rumination and schizotypal traits was examined by self-report questionnaire method in a cross-sectional arrangement. The Oxford-Liverpool Inventory was used to measure schizotypal traits, and the Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire was used to determine the level of rumination.
.RESULTS
Schizotypal symptoms (β = 0.575; p < 0.001), especially cognitive disorganization (β = 0.459; p < 0.001) and unusual experiences (β = 0.221; p = 0.029) significantly explained the degree of rumination.
.CONCLUSION
Our results support the hypothesis that the association between rumination and schizotypic traits is due to decreased cognitive inhibitory functions.
.Topics: Humans; Schizotypal Personality Disorder; Cross-Sectional Studies; Psychotic Disorders; Surveys and Questionnaires; Personality
PubMed: 37294028
DOI: 10.18071/isz.76.0149 -
Psychopathology 2022The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between personality, trait affectivity, and severity of delusions in patients with delusional disorder...
The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between personality, trait affectivity, and severity of delusions in patients with delusional disorder (DD). Thirty-two outpatients affected by DD were administered the Structured Interview for DSM-IV-TR Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV), the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale (PSYRATS). We analyzed the prevalence of personality disorder in our sample of patients with DD and studied the correlations between the severity of delusions and the different affective variables. Finally, we obtained a multivariate explanatory model of the severity of the delusions. The severity of delusions was directly associated with "grandiose fantasy" item of narcissistic personality and inversely related with the feelings of shame, fear, and guilt. In the multivariate model, the feeling of shame was the only independent variable capable of accounting for the severity of delusions that, in DD patients, would lie on an affective core of shame.
Topics: Delusions; Humans; Narcissism; Personality Disorders; Schizophrenia, Paranoid; Shame
PubMed: 35272292
DOI: 10.1159/000522344