The main purpose of the present study was to examine implicit and explicit self-esteem (SE) in patients with persecutory delusions. In samples of paranoid patients, depressed patients, and healthy controls, implicit SE was assessed using the experimental go/no-go association task, whereas explicit SE was measured using 2 self-reporting questionnaires: the self-worth subscale of the World Assump...

BACKGROUND It has been proposed that delusions of persecution are caused by the tendency to over-attribute malevolent intentions to other people's actions. One aspect of intention attribution is detecting contingencies between an agent's actions and intentions. Here, we used simplified stimuli to test the hypothesis that patients with persecutory delusions over-attribute contingency to agents' ...

Psychotic patients have problems with bodily self-recognition such as the experience of self-produced actions (sense of agency) and the perception of the body as their own (sense of ownership). While it has been shown that such impairments in psychotic patients can be explained by hypersalient processing of external sensory input it has also been suggested that they lack normal efference copy i...

Research suggests a link between Persecutory Delusions (PDs) and early interpersonal difficulties. However, little research has explored the first-hand experience of navigating such adversities in those who later developed PDs. The current study reports on a qualitative investigation of the early interpersonal experiences and challenges faced by a sample of individuals who have recovered from P...

We explored the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Peters et al. delusions inventory-21 (PDI-21) and evaluated the item characteristics of the PDI-21 compared with the Magical Ideation Scale (MIS) in Korean community adolescents. Survey participants comprised 310 Year 10 students who were assessed with the following instruments: the PDI-21, the MIS, the Schizotypal Personality...

SUMMARY A 50-year-old factory worker was admitted to hospital following an altercation with fellow workers. He reported a 25-year history of grandiose delusions related to being a special agent for the Taiwanese and US governments (for which he had been paid 100 million dollars) and paranoid delusions related to persecution by China's national security agencies. After detailed assessment by sev...

Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one’s own reflection in the mirror is a stranger. Current theories suggest that this delusion can occur when two factors are present: a deficit in face processing which is responsible for the content of the delusion (Factor 1) and a deficit in belief evaluation which accounts for the failure to reject the delusional belief (Factor 2)...

At least 10-15% of the general population regularly experience paranoid thoughts and persecutory delusions are a frequent symptom of psychosis. Persecutory ideation is a key topic for study. In this article the empirical literature on psychological processes associated with persecutory thinking in clinical and non-clinical populations is comprehensively reviewed. There is a large direct affecti...

(1) Cátedra de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 60 y 120, La Plata (1900), Argentina. (2) Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Calle 526 e/10 y 11, La Plata (1900) Argentina. (3) Instituto de Bioestadística, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Adventista del Plata, Calle 25 de Mayo ...

BACKGROUND Different environmental factors are thought to be responsible for 15-20% of schizophrenia pathogenesis. Religion has long been considered a major force in human life, regardless of economic, social or political affiliation. How the perception of religion has changed over time, especially in the context of mental illness, was the focal point of this long-term comparative study. SUBJ...