Problems in measuring the JTC-bias in patients with psychotic disorders with the fish task: a secondary analysis of a baseline assessment of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The jumping to conclusions bias (JTC) is considered to be an important causal factor in theoretical models for the formation and maintenance of delusions. However, recent meta-analytic findings show a rather equivocal pattern of results regarding associations between JTC and delusions. Thus, the present study aims to investigate in a large sample whether the JTC-bias is more pronounced in patients with psychotic disorders in comparison to controls and whether the JTC bias is associated with a more severe delusional conviction, persecutory delusions, and positive symptoms in general.

Theory of mind, emotion recognition, delusions and the quality of the therapeutic relationship in patients with psychosis - a secondary analysis of a randomized-controlled therapy trial.

Background: Cognitive models of psychosis postulate an important role of Theory of mind (ToM) in the formation and maintenance of delusions, but research on this plausible conjecture has gathered conflicting findings. In addition, it is still an open question whether problems in emotion recognition (ER) are associated with delusions. We examined the association of problems in ToM and ER with different aspects of delusions in a large sample of patients with psychosis enrolled in a therapy trial.

Negative schemata about the self and others and paranoid ideation in at-risk states and those with persisting positive symptoms.

Background: The objective of this study is to test the conflicting theories concerning the association of negative self and other schemata and paranoid ideation.

Methods: A risk-based approach, including risk stratification, is used to gain insight into the association of the negative self and other schemata that may be shared by individuals or differentiate between individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for a first-episode psychosis and those with full-blown psychosis. The dataset includes a sample of individuals at CHR (n = 137) and a sample of individuals with persisting positive symptoms (PPS, n = 211).

The therapeutic alliance in different mental disorders: A comparison of patients with depression, somatoform, and eating disorders.

Objective: The therapeutic alliance is intensively investigated in psychotherapy research. However, there is scarce research on the role of the specific diagnosis of the patient in the formation of the therapeutic alliance. Hence, the aim of this study was to address this research gap by comparing the alliance in different mental disorders.

Longitudinal relations between symptoms, neurocognition, and self-concept in schizophrenia.

Objective: Cognitive models suggest that the self-concept of persons with psychosis can be fundamentally affected. Self-concepts were found to be related to different symptom domains when measured concurrently. Longitudinal investigations to disentangle the possible causal associations are rare.