The Short-Term Impact of a Paranoid Explanation on Self-esteem: An Experimental Study

Experimental studies of paranoid thinking in clinical and nonclinical populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Paranoia is common in clinical and nonclinical populations, consistent with continuum models of psychosis. A number of experimental studies have been conducted that attempt to induce, manipulate or measure paranoid thinking in both clinical and nonclinical populations, which is important to understand causal mechanisms and advance psychological interventions. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies (non-sleep, non-drug paradigms) on psychometrically assessed paranoia in clinical and nonclinical populations. The review was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Six databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Medline and AMED) were searched for peer-reviewed experimental studies using within and between-subject designs to investigate paranoia in clinical and nonclinical populations. Effect sizes for each study were calculated using Hedge's g and were integrated using a random effect meta-analysis model. Thirty studies were included in the review (total n = 3898), which used 13 experimental paradigms to induce paranoia; 10 studies set out to explicitly induce paranoia, and 20 studies induced a range of other states. Effect sizes for individual studies ranged from 0.03 to 1.55. Meta-analysis found a significant summary effect of 0.51 [95% confidence interval 0.37-0.66, p < 0.001], indicating a medium effect of experimental paradigms on paranoia. Paranoia can be induced and investigated using a wide range of experimental paradigms, which can inform decision-making about which paradigms to use in future studies, and is consistent with cognitive, continuum and evolutionary models of paranoia.

An experimental study on the effectiveness of emotion regulation in patients with acute delusions

BACKGROUND

Patients with psychotic disorders report to apply more maladaptive and less adaptive emotion-regulation (ER) strategies compared to healthy controls. However, few studies have used experimental designs to investigate the success in ER and the results of those at hand are equivocal.

AIM

This study investigated whether patients with delusions show problems in downregulating negative affect via cognitive ER-strategies.

METHOD

Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and acute delusions (n = 78) and healthy controls (n = 41) took part in an ER-experiment, in which they were instructed to downregulate anxiety and sadness via three ER-strategies (reappraisal, distraction, acceptance) or not to regulate their emotions (control-condition). ER-success was measured as the change in subjective emotion-intensity and physiological indicators (skin conductance and heart rate) from before to after regulation and was analyzed with mixed-repeated-measures ANOVAs.

RESULTS

We found a significant effect of the ER-strategy in the sense that the subjective emotion-intensity was significantly lower after applying the reappraisal- and distraction-strategies than after the just view-condition (p's < .001). This effect was not found for the acceptance strategy (p = .060). There was no ER-strategy ∗ time ∗ group interaction-effect F(4.918, 575.416) = 0.778, p = .564, ƞ²_partial = 0.007. In all conditions, skin conductance decreased from pre- to post regulation (p < .001).

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that patients with acute delusions can successfully apply cognitive ER-strategies. Before pursuing the relevant clinical implications of this finding, further research is needed to explore the role that the type of instruction has on ER-success and the extent to which the findings can be generalized to real life settings.

Autonomic arousal during psychosis spectrum experiences: Results from a high resolution ambulatory assessment study over the course of symptom on- and offset

INTRODUCTION

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies show that stressors trigger the onset or increase of psychotic symptoms. These studies, however, predominantly rely on large sampling intervals and self-report assessment. This study aims to identify the autonomic stress-response to psychosis-spectrum experiences by using a one-day high-resolution EMA with continuous skin conductance and heart rate monitoring in a sample with attenuated positive symptoms.

METHODS

Sixty-two participants were equipped with a smartphone and wearable sensors to monitor skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate variability (HRV) for 24 h. Every 20 min, participants answered questions on current stress, hallucination spectrum experiences (HSE), and paranoia. Sampling intervals were categorized into no event, pre-onset, event, pre-offset, and post-offset phases. We contrasted stress, SCL, and HRV between phases using multilevel regression models of sampling intervals nested in participants.

RESULTS

For paranoia, we found alterations in the autonomic and self-reported stress response prior to the onset that persisted until the episodes had ended. For HSE, we found no effects. Exploratory separate analyses of the different items aggregated into HSE yielded diverging results for intrusive thoughts, perceptual sensitivity, and hallucinations.

CONCLUSION

Physiological parameters are sensitive indicators of the onset of paranoia, which holds implications for preventive mobile interventions. To further explore the autonomic stress-response associated with HSE, further studies of the different HSE are needed.

An experimental investigation of the impact of critical and warm comments on state paranoia in a non-clinical sample

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Interpersonal stress is key to the development and maintenance of paranoia. Much attention has been given to the impact of interpersonal stressors, such as criticism, on outcomes in psychosis. Less attention has been given to the potentially protective effects of positive interpersonal factors. This study tested experimentally whether criticism and warm comments elicited changes in state paranoia. Whether warm comments provided protective effects when participants faced subsequent social exclusion was also examined.

METHOD

A nonclinical sample (N = 97) was randomised to criticism, warm comments, or neutral comments conditions. Participants then played a virtual ball game (Cyberball), during which they were systematically excluded from the game. State paranoia was measured before and after the affective stimuli and after social exclusion. Self-esteem and trait paranoia were also measured.

RESULTS

Paranoia levels increased following exposure to criticism (p = .011). Paranoia was not significantly lower following exposure to warm comments (p = .203). Warm comments did not provide protection against the effects of subsequent social exclusion. The warm comments condition was the only condition in which significant increases in paranoia were seen following social exclusion (p = .004).

LIMITATIONS

Use of a non-clinical sample limits generalisation to clinical populations.

CONCLUSIONS

Criticism is sufficient to elicit increases in paranoia in non-clinical participants. Warm comments are insufficient to significantly reduce paranoia or provide protective effects against subsequent negative interpersonal experiences, highlighting the need to balance therapeutic warmth with amelioration of social stressors in paranoia.

Paranoid Delusions as an Adaptive Response to Social Evaluative Stress?

Abstract. Learning mechanisms may serve as a framework for understanding the formation of paranoia. Specifically, if paranoid thoughts after social stressors produce a short-term benefit for coping (e.g., downregulating arousal), the encountered negative reinforcement could lead to their excessive application and subsequently to long-term maladaptive convictions. The Trier Social Stress Test was utilized in healthy participants to examine this putative benefit. Participants rated paranoia at baseline and after the stressor. Subjective stress levels, negative affect, heart rate, and heart rate variability were assessed in the following rest phase (N = 59). Semipartial correlations showed that participants who responded with larger increases in paranoia were characterized by a lower heart rate in the subsequent rest phase. No associations were found with heart rate variability or psychological measures. Thus, paranoid thinking in healthy individuals could be an adaptive means for reestablishing some aspects of physiological homeostasis after a social stressor but further research is needed.

Maintaining Delusional Beliefs to Satisfy and Protect Psychological Needs

Abstract. Affiliation, control, and self-esteem are psychological needs that human beings attempt to satisfy and protect ( Epstein, 2003 ; Grawe, 2004 ). From a motivational perspective, behaviors, attentional and cognitive biases as well as symptoms can have an instrumental function for need satisfaction and protection ( Caspar, 2011 ). In this opinion paper, we elaborate the idea that the maintenance of delusions could be a motivated process. This approach helps to view the maintenance of delusional beliefs as a purposeful, yet mostly nonconscious, and not completely adaptive attempt to satisfy and protect psychological needs. Conclusions for case formulations, therapy planning, and therapeutic relationship building are drawn within the framework of cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychosis. In addition, limitations of the approach and future research avenues are discussed.

The effect of social exclusion on state paranoia and explicit and implicit self-esteem in a non-clinical sample

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The relationship between self-esteem and paranoia may be influenced by social stress. This study aimed to replicate previous research on the impact ofsocial exclusion on paranoia and self-esteem in a non-clinical sample and to extend this work by examining the effect of exclusion on self-esteem at the 'implicit' level.

METHODS

Non-clinical participants (N = 85) were randomly allocated to the Inclusion or Exclusion condition of a virtual ball-toss game ('Cyberball'). They completed self-reportmeasures of state paranoia and self-esteem, and two implicit measures of self-esteem - theImplicit Association Task (IAT) and Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) -prior to and after exposure to Cyberball.

RESULTS

Social exclusion increased state paranoia. This effect was moderated by distress associated with trait paranoia. Exclusion was also associated with decreased self-reported self-esteem, as well as reduced implicit self-esteem on the IAT. Changes in self-reported self-esteem were associated with state paranoia at post-Cyberball. The IRAP indicated that reductions in implicit self-esteem may be due to increases in 'Me-Negative' and 'Others-Positive' biases (rather than reductions in 'Me-Positive' bias).

LIMITATIONS

The current study involved a non-clinical sample and so findings cannot be generalized to clinical paranoia.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings are consistent with previous evidence that paranoia is associated with negative self-evaluations, whereas positive self-evaluations can persist in paranoia. They also provide support for the suggestion that investigations of self-esteem in paranoia should extend beyond global self-esteem and might benefit from a distinction between positive and negative components.

A two-stage cognitive theory of the positive symptoms of psychosis. Highlighting the role of lowered decision thresholds

OBJECTIVES

We outline a two-stage heuristic account for the pathogenesis of the positive symptoms of psychosis.

METHODS

A narrative review on the empirical evidence of the liberal acceptance (LA) account of positive symptoms is presented.

HYPOTHESIS

At the heart of our theory is the idea that psychosis is characterized by a lowered decision threshold, which results in the premature acceptance of hypotheses that a nonpsychotic individual would reject. Once the hypothesis is judged as valid, counterevidence is not sought anymore due to a bias against disconfirmatory evidence as well as confirmation biases, consolidating the false hypothesis. As a result of LA, confidence in errors is enhanced relative to controls. Subjective probabilities are initially low for hypotheses in individuals with delusions, and delusional ideas at stage 1 (belief formation) are often fragile. In the course of the second stage (belief maintenance), fleeting delusional ideas evolve into fixed false beliefs, particularly if the delusional idea is congruent with the emotional state and provides "meaning". LA may also contribute to hallucinations through a misattribution of (partially) normal sensory phenomena. Interventions such as metacognitive training that aim to "plant the seeds of doubt" decrease positive symptoms by encouraging individuals to seek more information and to attenuate confidence. The effect of antipsychotic medication is explained by its doubt-inducing properties.

LIMITATIONS

The model needs to be confirmed by longitudinal designs that allow an examination of causal relationships. Evidence is currently weak for hallucinations.

CONCLUSIONS

The theory may account for positive symptoms in a subgroup of patients. Future directions are outlined.

Social Adversity and Psychosis: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Vulnerability

BACKGROUND

Social adversity is a risk factor for psychosis, but the translating mechanisms are not well understood. This study tests whether the relationship between social adversity and psychosis is mediated by cognitive vulnerability in the form of low perceived social rank, negative schemas related to self and other, and loneliness and whether the putative mediations are specific to psychosis or are largely explained by depression.

METHODS

The study was a survey in a community sample (N = 2350) from Germany (n = 786), Indonesia (n = 844), and the United States (n = 720). Mediation path analysis with structural equation modeling was used to test for the specificity of the hypothesized paths to psychosis controlling for depression.

RESULTS

Social adversity had a significant medium to large effect on positive (R2 = .20) and negative symptoms (R2 = .38). Social rank, negative schemas, and loneliness significantly mediated the relationship between social adversity and negative symptoms and the models explained a large amount of the variance (R2 = .43-.44). For positive symptoms, only negative schemas were a significant mediator (R2 = .27).

DISCUSSION

The results emphasize the role of social adversity in psychosis and support the assumption that cognitive vulnerability is a relevant translating mechanism as postulated by the social defeat hypothesis and cognitive models of psychosis. This underlines the relevance of the clinical practice of targeting beliefs in cognitive interventions for psychosis. It also indicates that targeting cognitive vulnerability in people experiencing social adversity could be a promising approach to prevention.

The Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences measures nine clusters of psychosis-like experiences: A validation of the German version of the CAPE

AIM

This study examined the factorial and criterion validity of the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE). We compared the validity of the original three-dimensional model and a recently proposed multidimensional model, in which positive symptoms are subdivided into the subfactors hallucinations, bizarre experiences, paranoia, grandiosity and magical thinking and negative symptoms are subdivided into social withdrawal, affective flattening and avolition.

METHODS

Eleven community (n=934) and three patient samples (n=112) were combined and the proposed models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Criterion validity was calculated based on self-report measures for depression and paranoia as well as observer-based ratings for positive and negative symptoms.

RESULTS

The multidimensional model showed better relative quality (AIC, BIC) than the original three-dimensional model of the CAPE, but both models showed acceptable absolute model-fit (RMSEA, SRMR). The criterion validity was good for the positive symptom scales and negative symptom subfactors social withdrawal and affective flattening.

CONCLUSION

Factorial validity was found for the three-dimensional and multidimensional model for the CAPE. The multidimensional model, however, shows better comparative fit and promising results in regard to criterion validity. Thus, we recommend a hierarchical multidimensional structure of positive and negative symptoms for future use of the CAPE.

Motive-oriented therapeutic relationship building for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia

Treatment options for patients with schizophrenia demand further improvement. One way to achieve this improvement is the translation of findings from basic research into new specific interventions. Beyond that, addressing the therapy relationship has the potential to enhance both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments. This paper introduces motive-oriented therapeutic relationship (MOTR) building for schizophrenia. MOTR enables therapists to proactively adapt to their patient’s needs and to prevent problematic behaviors. For example, a patient might consider medication as helpful in principle, but the rejection of medication might be one of his few remaining means for his acceptable motive to stay autonomous despite hospitalization. A therapist who is motive-oriented proactively offers many degrees of freedom to this patient in order to satisfy his need for autonomy and to weaken the motivational basis for not taking medication. MOTR makes use of findings from basic and psychotherapy research and is generic in this respect, but at the same time guides therapeutic action precisely and flexibly in a patient oriented way.

Dealing with feeling: Specific emotion regulation skills predict responses to stress in psychosis

Elevated negative affect is an established link between minor stressors and psychotic symptoms. Less clear is why people with psychosis fail to regulate distressing emotions effectively. This study tests whether subjective, psychophysiological and symptomatic responses to stress can be predicted by specific emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. Participants with psychotic disorders (n=35) and healthy controls (n=28) were assessed for ER-skills at baseline. They were then exposed to a noise versus no stressor on different days, during which self-reported stress responses, state paranoia and skin conductance levels (SCL) were assessed. Participants with psychosis showed a stronger increase in self-reported stress and SCL in response to the stressor than healthy controls. Stronger increases in self-reported stress were predicted by a reduced ability to be aware of and tolerate distressing emotions, whereas increases in SCL were predicted by a reduced ability to be aware of, tolerate, accept and modify them. Although paranoid symptoms were not significantly affected by the stressors, individual variation in paranoid responses was also predicted by a reduced ability to be aware of and tolerate emotions. Differences in stress responses in the samples were no longer significant after controlling for ER skills. Thus, interventions that improve ER-skills could reduce stress-sensitivity in psychosis.