The Dunn Worry Questionnaire and the Paranoia Worries Questionnaire: new assessments of worry.

Background: The cognitive process of worry, which keeps negative thoughts in mind and elaborates the content, contributes to the occurrence of many mental health disorders. Our principal aim was to develop a straightforward measure of general problematic worry suitable for research and clinical treatment. Our secondary aim was to develop a measure of problematic worry specifically concerning paranoid fears.

Worry processes in patients with persecutory delusions.

Objectives: Worry may be common in patients with paranoia and a contributory causal factor in the occurrence of the delusions. A number of psychological mechanisms have been linked to the occurrence of worry in emotional disorders but these are yet to be investigated in psychosis. The primary aim of the study was to test the links between five main worry mechanisms - perseverative thinking, catastrophizing, stop rules, metacognitive beliefs, and intolerance of uncertainty - and the cognitive style of worry in patients with persecutory delusions.

Effects of cognitive behaviour therapy for worry on persecutory delusions in patients with psychosis (WIT): a parallel, single-blind, randomised controlled trial with a mediation analysis.

Background: Worry might be a contributory causal factor in the occurrence of persecutory delusions in patients with psychotic disorders. Therefore we postulated that reducing worry with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) would reduce persecutory delusions.

Methods: For our two-arm, assessor-blinded, randomised controlled trial (Worry Intervention Trial [WIT]), we recruited patients aged 18-65 years with persistent persecutory delusions but non-affective psychosis from two centres: the Oxford Health National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust (Oxford, UK) and the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust (Southampton, UK).

The Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire in Patients with Persecutory Delusions.

Background: Ruminative negative thinking has typically been considered as a factor maintaining common emotional disorders and has recently been shown to maintain persecutory delusions in psychosis. The Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) (Ehring et al., 2011) is a transdiagnostic measure of ruminative negative thinking that shows promise as a "content-free" measure of ruminative negative thinking.

Depersonalization in patients with persecutory delusions.

Delusions are, in part, attempts to explain confusing anomalous experience. Depersonalization, a key subset of anomalous experience, has been little studied in relation to persecutory delusions. The aims of this study were to assess the presence of depersonalization in patients with persecutory delusions and to examine associations with levels of paranoia and worry.

Persecutory delusions and psychological well-being.

Purpose: Persecutory delusions are one of the key problems seen in psychotic conditions. The aim of the study was to assess for the first time the levels of psychological well-being specifically in patients with current persecutory delusions.

Method: One hundred and fifty patients with persecutory delusions in the context of a diagnosis of non-affective psychosis, and 346 non-clinical individuals, completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and symptom assessments.

The interaction of affective with psychotic processes: a test of the effects of worrying on working memory, jumping to conclusions, and anomalies of experience in patients with persecutory delusions.

Worry has traditionally been considered in the study of common emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression, but recent studies indicate that worry may be a causal factor in the occurrence and persistence of persecutory delusions. The effect of worry on processes traditionally associated with psychosis has not been tested. The aim of the study was to examine the short-term effects of a bout of worry on three cognitive processes typically considered markers of psychosis: working memory, jumping to conclusions, and anomalous internal experience.