Cognitive models of psychosis posit that reasoning biases are an important mechanism contributing to the formation of psychotic symptoms, in part through transforming anomalous experiences of aberrant salience into frank psychotic symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the interplay of liberal acceptance (LA) bias, which is a specific type of reasoning bias, and momentary aberrant salience...
ContextParanoia embodies altered representation of the social environment, fuelling altered feelings of social acceptance leading to further mistrust. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may relieve paranoia and reduce its impact on social acceptance.ObjectiveTo determine whether MBCT alters momentary feeling of paranoia and social acceptance in daily life.DesignRandomized controlled...
Background: Schizophrenia is characterized by positive and negative symptoms, but recently anomalous self-experiences, e.g. exaggerated self-consciousness (hyperreflectivity), receive more attention as an important symptom domain in schizophrenia patients. The semi-structured interview, the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE) [Psychopathology 2005;38:236-258], examines experiences...
While contemporary models of psychosis have proposed a number of putative psychological mechanisms, how these impact on individuals to increase intensity of psychotic experiences in real life, outside the research laboratory, remains unclear. We aimed to investigate whether elevated stress sensitivity, experiences of aberrant novelty and salience, and enhanced anticipation of threat contribute...
Schizophrenia ResearchSeptember 2012Margreet Oorschot, Tineke Lataster, Viviane Thewissen et al.
Hallucinations are a core feature of psychosis, often causing considerable distress. Reported prevalence ranges from 70% for auditory hallucinations (AHs) to 30% for visual hallucinations (VHs) and 4% for hallucinations in the tactile domain. AHs have been studied extensively but studies on VHs are scarce. The current study investigated the phenomenology of VHs and AHs in the realm of daily...
Psychological models of psychosis were examined using Experience Sampling Methods (ESM) to explore relationships between dimensions and appraisals of key symptoms and affect. Individuals were signalled to complete ESM booklets 10 times per day for six consecutive days; 534 data points were obtained from 12 out-patients with psychosis. Although only 3.6% of spontaneous thoughts were psychosis...
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the experiential dynamics of the interaction between cannabis and vulnerability to psychosis. AIMS: To examine the effects of cannabis on psychotic symptoms and mood in patients with psychosis and healthy controls. METHOD: Patients with a psychotic disorder (n = 42) and healthy controls (n = 38) were followed in their daily lives using a structured...
There is an expanding interest to study psychosis in the realm of daily life. The study of the person in the context of daily life may provide a powerful addition to more conventional and cross-sectional research strategies in the study of psychosis. This article first discusses the nature of experience sampling research in psychosis and demonstrates the feasibility and validity of studies...
Frequent use of cannabis has been associated with poor outcome in patients with psychosis or schizophrenia, and research has become more and more interested in the question whether cannabis may actually cause psychosis or schizophrenia. Since only a minority of cannabis users eventually develops psychosis or schizophrenia, cannabis is suggested to be a component cause, potentially interacting...
OBJECTIVE: A functional polymorphism in the catechol-o-methyltransferase gene (COMT Val(158)Met) may moderate the psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis. In order to extend this finding to dynamic effects in the flow of daily life, a momentary assessment study of psychotic symptoms in response to cannabis use was conducted. METHOD: The experience sampling technique was used to collect data on...
Background. Research suggests that low-grade psychotic experiences in the general population are a common but transitory developmental phenomenon. Using two independent general population samples, the hypothesis was examined that common, non-clinical developmental expression of psychosis may become abnormally persistent when synergistically combined with developmental exposures that may impact...