Background: Delusional experience is a fundamental symptom of psychotic illness. Over recent years, a multidimensional perspective has become increasingly important regarding this phenomenon. Several instruments to measure different dimensions of delusions have been constructed. The aims of this study were to examine the reliability and validity of a German version of the Dimensions of Delusional Experience Scale (DDE).
Methods: Two hundred inpatients with a schizophrenic spectrum disorder or an affective disorder with delusions were examined with the DDE, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and other rating scales for delusional experiences.
Results: The scale was found to have good reliability and excellent inter-rater reliability. The 2 factors, delusional involvement and delusional construct, found by Kendler et al. [Am J Psychiatry 1983;140:466-469] could be replicated. The convergent and differential validity of the scale was supported. Besides the content-related aspect 'bizarreness', the DDE mainly assesses cognitive aspects, emotional and behavioral aspects are not incorporated.
Conclusions: The results support the value of a multidimensional perspective of delusional experiences. The German version of the DDE is a reliable and valid assessment tool for different dimensions of delusions, and an economical instrument for research and clinical practice. Further research is needed to reveal the dimensional structure underlying delusional experience.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000304175 | DOI Listing |
Soc Sci Med
December 2024
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, B.C. Mental Health and Substance Use Services, Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
This study explores the multifaceted challenges experienced by individuals with schizophrenia during extreme heat, highlighting the interplay between individual factors, social dynamics, and environmental influences. Despite making up only 1% of the Canadian population, individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia comprised 16% (n = 97) of the deaths during the 2021 heat dome in Western Canada. However, to date, there exists scant qualitative research that explore the direct experiences and the intricacies of intersecting factors faced by individuals with schizophrenia during extreme heat events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
December 2024
Background: Phenomenological psychopathologists have recently highlighted how people with delusions experience multiple realities (delusional and non-delusional) and have suggested this double bookkeeping cannot be explained via predictive processing. Here, we present data from Kamin blocking and extinction learning that show how predictive processing might, in principle, explain a pervasive sense of dual reality.
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved three participant groups: patients with schizophrenia (SZ; n=42), healthy participants with elevated esoteric beliefs (EEB; clairaudient psychics; n=31), and heathy controls (with neither illness nor significant delusional ideation, n=62).
Psychiatry Res
November 2024
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
In 1994, the DSM-IV added the specifier "with poor insight" to the diagnostic criteria of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The DSM-5 went one step further and now allows clinicians to diagnose OCD "with absent insight/delusional beliefs," thereby blurring the long-standing distinction between OCD and psychosis. The present study surveyed OCD experts as to their opinions on the insight specifier and the future classification of OCD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Nutr Assoc
December 2024
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.
Since exam periods are used as a benchmark to determine academic achievement, they may result in increased anxiety, changes in dietary behavior, weight fluctuations and increased gastrointestinal symptoms in students. For this reason, this research was conducted to evaluate the effect of test anxiety on nutritional status and gastrointestinal symptoms in adolescents. This study was conducted with 104 senior high school students who agreed to participate in the study in a private and public school in Ankara 7 months before the exam and 1 month before the exam to evaluate the effect of exam anxiety on nutritional status and gastrointestinal symptoms of students preparing for the university exam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCan J Psychiatry
November 2024
Schizophrenia Division, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Objectives: The majority of patients with schizophrenia experience dramatic improvement in psychotic symptoms when treated with antipsychotic medication. Maintenance treatment can prevent relapses but problems with medication adherence limit effectiveness. Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) provide an opportunity to establish adherence but challenges remain in ensuring that the dose selected is therapeutic.
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