Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:36:32.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strategic Cognition in Paranoia: The Use of Thought Control Strategies in a Non-Clinical Population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2008

Katherine Newman Taylor ,
Alexandra Graves  and
Luisa Stopa
Katherine Newman Taylor*
Affiliation:
Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust, UK
Alexandra Graves
Affiliation:
University of Bath, UK
Luisa Stopa
Affiliation:
University of Southampton, UK
*
Reprint requests to Katherine Newman Taylor, Department of Psychiatry, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton SO14 0YG, UK. E-mail: katherine.newman-taylor@hantspt-sw.nhs.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Recent work in the area of cognition and emotion has focused on the process as well as the content of thought. Metacognitive approaches have included studies of people's relationship with internal experience (cf. Teasdale and Barnard, 1993), and the overarching beliefs that guide allocation of internal resources to manage distress (cf. Wells, 2000). At the same time, cognitive models of psychosis have emphasized the clinical value of a multidimensional understanding of paranoia (Chadwick, 2006; Freeman and Garety, 2004b). Method: This study examined paranoia in a non-clinical group, specifically (i) the relationship between a single measure of trait paranoia and dimensions of paranoid thought frequency, belief conviction and distress, and (ii) the metacognitive strategies that people use. It was predicted that trait paranoia would be associated with (i) dimensions of thought frequency, belief conviction and distress, and (ii) the internal strategies of “punishment” and “worry.” Results: Regression analyses showed that trait paranoia uniquely predicted frequency, conviction and distress associated with paranoid thoughts. Trait paranoia accounted for the use of “reappraisal”, whereas “punishment” and “worry” were accounted for by anxiety. Conclusions: The implications for clinical work and further research are discussed.

Keywords

ParanoiapsychosismetacognitionParanoid Cognitions Questionnaire
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 25 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, J. S., Whiteside, S., Kalsy, S. A. and Tolin, D. (2003). Thought control strategies in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a replication and extension. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 529–540.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Amir, N., Cashman, L. and Foa, E. B. (1997). Strategies of thought control in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 775–777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, A., Troop, N., Joseph, S., Hiskey, S. and Coyne, I. (2005). Attempted versus successful avoidance: associations with distress, symptoms, and strategies for mental control. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 897–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: causes and treatment. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Bentall, R. P. (2003). Madness Explained: psychosis and human nature. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Bryant, R. A., Moulds, M. and Guthrie, R. M. (2001). Cognitive strategies and the resolution of acute stress disorder (abstract). Journal of Traumatic Stress, 14, 213–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryman, A. (2001). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chadwick, P. D. J. (2006). Person-Based Cognitive Therapy for Distressing Psychosis. Chichester: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, A. and Fallowfield, L. J. (1986). Quality of life measurement in patients with malignant disease. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 79, 165–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coles, M. E. and Heimburg, R. G. (2005). Thought control strategies in generalised anxiety disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 47–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Combs, D. R. and Penn, D. L. (2004). The role of subclinical paranoia on social perception and behavior. Schizophrenia Research, 69, 93–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellett, L., Lopes, B. and Chadwick, P. (2003). Paranoia in a nonclinical population of college students. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 425–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, J. and Cropley, M. (2002). An examination of thought control strategies employed by acute and chronic insomniacs. Sleep Medicine, 3, 393–400.Google Scholar
Fenigstein, A. and Vanable, P. A. (1992). Paranoia and self-consciousness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 129–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Field, A. (2005). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (2nd ed.). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Dunn, G., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P., Slater, M., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D., Green, C., Jordan, J. and Katarzyna, R. (2005). The psychology of persecutory ideation I: a questionnaire survey. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 193, 302–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, D. and Garety, P. A. (2004)a. Bats among birds. The Psychologist, 17, 642–645.Google Scholar
Freeman, D. and Garety, P. A. (2004)b. Paranoia: the psychology of persecutory delusions. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P. E., Smith, B., Rollinson, R., Fowler, D., Kuipers, E., Ray, K. and Dunn, G. (2005). Psychological investigation of the structure of paranoia in a non-clinical population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186, 427–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D. and Bebbington, P. E. (2002). A cognitive model of persecutory delusions. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 41, 331–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., Mazure, L., Fleischmann, R. L., Hill, C. L., Heninger, G. R. and Cherney, D. S. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: I. development, use and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 1006–1011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johns, L. C., Cannon, M., Singleton, N., Murray, R. M., Farrell, M., Brugha, T., Bebbington, P., Jenkins, R. and Meltzer, H. (2004). Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 298–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luciano, J. V., Algarabel, S., Tomas, J. M. and Martynez, J. L. (2005). Development and validation of the thought control ability questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 997–1008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, A. P., Gumley, A. I., Schwannauer, M., Campbell, M., Gleeson, A., Griffin, E. and Gillan, K. (2005). The Beliefs about Paranoia Scale: preliminary validation of a metacognitive approach to conceptualising paranoia. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 33, 153–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, A. and Wells, A. (2000). Thought control strategies in schizophrenia: a comparison with non-patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 1205–1209.Google Scholar
Morrison, A., Wells, A. and Northard, S. (2000). Cognitive factors in predisposition to auditory and visual hallucinations. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 67–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, E. R., Joseph, S. A. and Garety, P. A. (1999). Measurement of delusional ideation in the normal population: introducing the PDI (Peters et al. Delusions Inventory). Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25, 553–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawlings, D. and Freeman, J. L. (1996). A questionnaire for the measurement of paranoia/suspiciousness. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35, 451–461.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L. and Lushene, R. E. (1970). STAI Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, Ca: Consulting Psychologist Press.Google Scholar
Stopa, L. (1995). Unpublished PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. D. and Barnard, P. J. (1993). Affect, Cognition and Change: remodelling depressive thought. New York: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Verdoux, H., Maurice-Tison, S., Gay, B., Van Os, J., Salamon, R. and Bourgeois, M. L. (1998). A survey of delusional ideation in primary-care patients. Psychological Medicine, 28, 127–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, A. (2000). Emotional Disorders and Metacognition. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Wells, A. and Davies, M. I. (1994). The Thought Control Questionnaire: a measure of individual differences in the control of unwanted thoughts. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 329, 871–878.Google Scholar
Zigmond, A. S. and Snaith, R. P. (1983). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.