Decision-making about intrusive thoughts: Relationships to attitudes towards them.

Background And Objectives: The present study investigated decision-making strategies about and evaluations of intrusive thoughts in OCD presented in hypothetical targets in vignettes in a non-clinical population. It was expected participants would be hastier in their decisions for violent and sexual thoughts than checking and contamination thoughts and find those thoughts more credible. In addition, it was expected that hastier decision-making would be related to poorer evaluation of the targets.

Public understanding of different kinds of voice-hearing experiences: Causal beliefs, perceptions of mental illness, and stigma.

Objective: Voice-hearers tend to face a high degree of stigma that can impact subjective well-being and social functioning. However, researchers have hypothesized that the content of the voice-hearing experience and its cultural context are relevant to stigma responses. This study experimentally tested how perceptions of voice-hearing experiences change as a function of the voice's content and the perceiver's characteristics.

Appraisals of and recommendations for managing intrusive thoughts: An empirical investigation.

The present study investigated strategies for managing intrusive thoughts. Eighty undergraduate students read vignettes of intrusive thoughts - blasphemous, sexual, and violent - which varied in frequency of the thought (high or low) and who experienced the thought (self or other). Appraisal ratings of thoughts were completed and participants completed a response strategy survey where they indicated how much they would endorse various methods for dealing with the thoughts.

The relationship between cognitive insight and quality of life in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Symptom severity as potential moderator.

Cognitive insight is implicated in the formation and maintenance of hallucinations and delusions. However, it is not yet known whether cognitive insight relates to broader outcome measures like quality of life. In the current study, we investigated whether the component elements of cognitive insight-self-certainty and self-reflectiveness-were related to quality of life for 43 outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

An investigation into reasoning biases, mood and cognitive state, and subclinical delusional ideation.

Following research on reasoning and the continuum of delusional ideation, the present study attempted to investigate the impact of different experimentally-induced states (stress, paranoia, and neutral) on the jumping-to-conclusions reasoning bias in individuals with varying levels of subclinical delusional ideation (SDI). Participants (N=117) completed a measure of subclinical delusional ideation (the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory or PDI; Peters et al.

Alexithymia in schizophrenia: associations with neurocognition and emotional distress.

While alexithymia, or difficulties identifying and describing affect, has been commonly observed in schizophrenia, little is known about its causes and correlates. To test the hypothesis that deficits in emotion identification and expression result from, or are at least related to, deficits in neurocognition and affective symptoms, we assessed alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and neurocognition using the MATRICS battery among 65 adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in a non-acute phase of illness. Partial correlations controlling for the effects of social desirability revealed that difficulty identifying feelings and externally oriented thinking were linked with greater levels of neurocognitive deficits, while difficulty describing feelings was related to heightened levels of emotional distress.

Jumping to conclusions and delusions: the impact of discussion of the bias on the bias.

The present study was an investigation of the impact a brief intervention designed to raise awareness of a cognitive bias known to be robust for individuals with delusions has on the reasoning strategies of individuals with delusions. Individuals with delusions (n=57) were randomly assigned either to receive or not to receive a discussion of the jumping to conclusions bias and its pitfalls. Participants' performance on 3 reasoning trials - 1 emotionally neutral (beads) and 2 emotionally salient (self-referred survey words) - was then assessed; the number of stimuli participants requested before making a decision was evaluated to determine if the Jumping to Conclusions Discussion resulted in increased data gathering.

The relationship of metacognition with jumping to conclusions among persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Background: Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a reasoning bias in which persons arrive at conclusions with relatively little data. It is prevalent in schizophrenia and tied to outcomes. To understand the correlates and the roots of this phenomenon, this study explored whether deficits in mastery, a domain of metacognition which reflects the ability to use knowledge about oneself and others to cope with psychological problems, was linked to a heightened tendency to jump to conclusions.

Delusional ideation and self-esteem in individuals with psychotic disorders.

The present study is an examination of the association of self-esteem with various themes of delusional thinking for individuals with psychotic disorders. Individuals with psychotic disorders (N = 30) completed a measure of delusional ideation and a measure of severity of delusions and also a measure of self-esteem. Results indicated individuals with higher levels of delusional thinking in the domains of persecution, thought disturbances, catastrophic ideation/thought broadcast, and negative self had lower self-esteem (p < 0.

The relationships between schizophrenia symptom dimensions and executive functioning components.

Research investigating the relationships between executive functioning impairments and the positive, negative, and cognitive schizophrenia symptoms has produced inconsistent results. This inconsistency may be due to the tendency to view executive functioning as a unified process as opposed to multiple fractionated processes. A fractionated model of executive functioning has been supported in several studies of various populations, but few schizophrenia studies have used the factor analytic methods of these studies to empirically determine separate executive functioning components, causing conclusions regarding the relationships between these components and schizophrenia symptoms to be unreliable.

Metacognition in schizophrenia: correlates and stability of deficits in theory of mind and self-reflectivity.

Research suggests that many with schizophrenia experience a range of deficits in metacognition including difficulties recognizing the emotions and intentions of others as well as reflecting upon and questioning their own thinking. Unclear, however, is the extent to which these deficits are stable over time, how closely related they are to one another and whether their associations with core aspects of the disorder such as disorganization symptoms are stable over time. To explore this issue, we administered three assessments of Theory of Mind (ToM), the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS), and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale at baseline and 6 months to 36 participants with schizophrenia.

Self-esteem and delusion proneness.

The present study was an examination of global self-esteem and various types of unusual beliefs in a nonclinical population. Individuals with no history of psychotic disorder (N = 121) completed a measure of delusion-proneness and also a measure of self-esteem. Results indicated high delusion prone individuals had lower self-esteem than low delusion prone individuals (p = 0.

Cognitive insight in non-psychiatric individuals and individuals with psychosis: an examination using the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale.

An increasing number of studies have used the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) to understand the reasoning of individuals with psychotic disorders. Less is known, however, about "normal" levels of insight and how non-psychiatric individuals compare to those with psychosis. The present study examined the structure of the BCIS in a non-psychiatric population and made comparisons between the scores of non-psychiatric individuals and those with psychosis.

Reasoning, delusion proneness and stress: an experimental investigation.

Previous studies have been inconsistent in demonstrating a relationship between delusion proneness and induced stress on reasoning biases. The present study was an experimental investigation of the role of stress in the form of feeling rushed, which has previously been shown to be related to the jumping-to-conclusions reasoning bias for delusion-prone individuals, on the reasoning of delusion-prone individuals. University students (n = 133) completed a measure of delusion proneness and were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive a stress induction in the form of a speeded subtraction task.

Metacognition in schizophrenia: associations with multiple assessments of executive function.

Deficits in metacognitive capacity, or the abilities to think about thinking, are thought to be a key barrier to functioning in schizophrenia. Although metacognitive function may be linked to executive function, it is unclear how the different domains of each phenomenon are related to one another. Accordingly, we assessed 4 domains of metacognition on the basis of a self-generated narrative using the Metacognition Assessment Scale.

Reasoning and delusion proneness: confidence in decisions.

The present study was an investigation into the reasoning of delusion prone individuals. Seventy healthy individuals in the general population completed a measure of delusion proneness and engaged in 8 trials of difficult probabilistic reasoning tasks, 4 emotionally neutral and 4 emotionally salient, and were asked to report their level of confidence in their decisions. While delusion prone individuals did not request any fewer stimuli on reasoning tasks than did individuals who were not delusion prone, delusion prone individuals were more confident in their decisions on the neutral task than individuals who were not delusion prone and were more confident in their decision on the first trial, regardless of the type of stimuli presented.

Stigma, social function and symptoms in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder: associations across 6 months.

Research suggests stigma is a barrier to self-esteem and the attainment of resources in schizophrenia. Less clear is the association of stigma experiences with symptoms and social function both concurrently and prospectively. To assess this, symptoms were measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, social function was measured using the Quality of Life Scale and stigma experience was assessed using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale among 36 persons with schizophrenia at two points, 6 months apart.

Cognitive insight and psychotic disorder: the impact of active delusions.

While several studies have determined the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS; [Beck, A.T., Baruch, E.

Jumping to conclusions and the continuum of delusional beliefs.

The present study examined the jumping to conclusions reasoning bias across the continuum of delusional ideation by investigating individuals with active delusions, delusion prone individuals, and non-delusion prone individuals. Neutral and highly self-referent probabilistic reasoning tasks were employed. Results indicated that individuals with delusions gathered significantly less information than delusion prone and non-delusion prone participants on both the neutral and self-referent tasks, (p<.

Jumping to conclusions and delusion proneness: the impact of emotionally salient stimuli.

The present study investigated whether those who are delusion-prone demonstrate a jumping to conclusions reasoning bias similar to that demonstrated by those with active delusions in previous studies. Two hundred individuals, none of whom had a psychotic disorder, were assessed for delusion-proneness and engaged in two probabilistic reasoning tasks, one emotionally neutral and the other emotionally salient. The emotionally salient task consisted of both positively and negatively valenced personally referent stimuli.

Cognitive insight and delusion proneness: An investigation using the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale.

The present study investigated the relationship between delusion proneness, as assessed using the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory [Peters, E.R.

Individual and group cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychotic disorders: a pilot investigation.

The present study is an uncontrolled pilot investigation of individual and group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with positive symptoms of psychosis (n = 6). While previous studies have utilized either individual or group CBT for schizophrenia, the present investigation is the first to include both components for patients in the chronic phase of a psychotic illness. The results of this pilot study suggest that this approach may be useful for both positive and negative symptoms of psychosis.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for schizophrenia: a review.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has a proven role as an adjunct to antipsychotic medication and remediative approaches such as social skills training in the management of residual symptoms of chronic schizophrenia. Positive symptoms, depression, and overall symptoms appear to be viable treatment targets for CBT with a less pronounced effect on negative symptoms. The effect size at end of therapy is strong, with durability at short-term follow up.

A new instrument for measuring insight: the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale.

The clinical measurements of insight have focused primarily on patients' unawareness of their having a mental disorder and of their need for treatment ([Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 89 (1994) 62; Am.