Life hassles have been implicated in both the formation and maintenance of psychosis symptoms. However, little is understood about the mechanism through which these stressors impact on psychosis. The current study proposed experiential avoidance (EA), a psychological coping style that is a central focus for change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as a potential mediator of the link b...

Previous studies suggest that paranormal beliefs, cognitive processes, and psychotic-like experiences are correlated. To further explore this connection, research was conducted to examine whether beliefs were correlated with, or predicted by executive functioning, metacognition, delusions, hallucinations. A convenience sample of 180 people completed five measures- evaluating functioning deficit...

Marcus’s view of belief is applied to the debate that centers on the question, “Are delusions beliefs?” Two consequences of this are that i) the question, “Are delusions beliefs?” needs rephrasing and ii) the answer is, “No, some delusional patients do not believe what they prima facie seem to believe”.

false negatives and false positives may occur. The presence of the delusions may be actively concealed by the patient (for instance, by a mother who is afraid that she will lose her children if she reveals her delusions), or the patient may be unable to fully recognize or report the presence of delusions because of perplexity, psychic retardation or agitation. On the other hand, the expressions...

Marcus’s view of belief is applied to the debate that centers on the question, “Are delusions beliefs?” Two consequences of this are that i) the question, “Are delusions beliefs?” needs rephrasing and ii) the answer is, “No, some delusional patients do not believe what they prima facie seem to believe”.

Two reasoning biases, jumping to conclusions (JTC) and belief inflexibility, have been found to be associated with delusions. We examined these biases and their relationship with delusional conviction in a longitudinal cohort of people with schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis. We hypothesized that JTC, lack of belief flexibility, and delusional conviction would form distinct factors, and that JTC ...

Non-bizarre delusions are hypothesized to be psychological adaptations which evolved to mitigate the dangerous consequences of social failure. When humans lived in small, kin-based groups, delusions would have functioned to combat social failure by closely mimicking conditions, such as possession of important information, external threats, or illness, where fellow group members were likely to c...

OBJECTIVE Research suggests that the contents of delusions in schizophrenia are influenced by culture and social environment. However, few studies have investigated the chronological change of such delusions within a society. To investigate specifically the changes in the persecutory delusions of schizophrenia that have occurred over time, we compared the nature of the persecutors and their per...

BACKGROUND Cognitive theories of persecutory delusions in schizophrenia include increased attention to threat and reduced re-appraisal of information during decision-making. METHODS We employed visual scan path measurements, an 'on-line' marker of attention, in schizophrenic patients with persecutory delusions (N = 19), negative symptom- and medication-matched patients with non-persecutory de...

BACKGROUND The relationship between focal brain atrophy and delusions in patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (DAT) is not well understood. Few studies have been reported on the association between medial temporal atrophy (MTA) and persecutory delusions in patients with DAT. We investigated the relationship between MTA and persecutory delusions in patients with DAT using voxel-based s...