BACKGROUND Previous studies of paranoia have assessed only limited numbers of paranoid thoughts, and have not considered the experience from a multidimensional perspective or examined the relationship between different suspicious thoughts. AIMS To assess a wide range of paranoid thoughts multidimensionally and examine their distribution, to identify the associated coping strategies and to exa...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS This study explored therapists' and clients' experiences of paranoia about the therapist in cognitive behaviour therapy. METHOD Ten therapists and eight clients engaged in cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS Clients reported experiencing paranoia about their ther...

Although virtual reality exposure has been reported as a method to induce paranoid thought, little is known about mechanisms to control specific virtual stressors. This paper reports on a study that examines the effect of controlling the stream of potential paranoia evoking events in a virtual restaurant world. A 2-by-2 experiment with a non-clinical group (n = 24) was conducted with as two wit...

Recently, there has been a renewed interested in the treatment of psychosis and it is now appears possible to modify specific symptoms of psychosis such as paranoia and delusions using methods derived from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. One specific technique that has received less attention is the use of behavioral experiments. In this paper, we will focus on the treatment of delusions and para...

The chewing of the khat leaves, which contain the amphetamine-like cathinone, is a traditional habit in Somalia. Our objective was to explore the effects of khat use and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on paranoid symptoms and to test a potential causal chain. We report on a cross-sectional study in Somalia that was conducted in 2003. Trained local staff interviewed 8723 personnel of armed...