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An Experimental Investigation into the Effect of State-Anxiety on State-Paranoia in People Experiencing Psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2018

Megan Cowles  and
Lorna Hogg
Megan Cowles*
Affiliation:
Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust, Bristol Mental Health, Complex Psychological Interventions, Petherton Resource Centre, Petherton Road, Bristol BS14 9BP
Lorna Hogg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY
*
Correspondence to Megan Cowles, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust, Bristol Mental Health, Complex Psychological Interventions, Petherton Resource Centre, Petherton Road, Bristol BS14 9BP. E-mail: megancowles@nhs.net
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Abstract

Background: There is strong evidence to suggest that anxiety is associated with paranoia in clinical and non-clinical samples. However, no research to date has directly manipulated anxiety to investigate if state-anxiety has a causal role in state-paranoia in clinical populations. Aims: To investigate whether an anxious-mood induction leads to greater paranoia than a neutral-mood induction in people experiencing psychosis and paranoia and, if so, whether this is predicted by anxiety over and above other variables. Method: 22 participants with a psychosis-spectrum diagnosis took part in a two condition cross-over experimental design. Participants underwent a neutral-mood and an anxious-mood induction with levels of state-anxiety, state-affect and state-paranoia being measured before and after each condition. Results: State-paranoia was significantly higher after the anxious condition compared with the neutral condition. State-anxiety and negative-affect were significant predictors of levels of state-paranoia after the anxious condition. When both predictors were included in a regression model, only negative-affect was a significant predictor of state-paranoia after the anxious condition. There were a number of methodological limitations. Conclusions: State-anxiety and negative-affect may both be involved in the maintenance of paranoia in clinical populations, as predicted by cognitive models. Negative-affect may be the strongest predictor of state-paranoia in clinical populations. Reasons for this are discussed, as well as the implications. Interventions that seek to reduce negative state-affect may be beneficial in managing state-paranoia. Further research is warranted to explore the suggested clinical and theoretical implications of these findings.

Keywords

paranoiaanxietypsychosisschizophreniaaffect
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 52 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2018 

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