Optimism is generally accepted by psychiatrists, psychologists and other caring professionals as a feature of mental health. Interventions typically rely on cognitive-behavioural tools to encourage individuals to 'stop negative thought cycles' and to 'challenge unhelpful thoughts'. However, evidence suggests that most individuals have persistent biases of optimism and that excessive optimism is...

Humans are not ants, but we often trudge together along the same trail, neglecting to look around for alternatives. Mass delusions involve large groups holding false or exaggerated beliefs for sustained periods. Humanity has a long, sorry list of these shadow-the-leader epidemics of collective consciousness which appear obviously wrong only in hindsight. Some last for centuries: early alchemist...

Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to Katherine Herdman for technical assistance. Abstract Rationale Frequent cannabis use is a risk marker for schizophrenia and delusions, but the neurocognitive mechanisms of this relationship remain unclear. Objectives We sought evidence that cannabis users have deficits in processing relationships between meaningful stimuli, similar to abnormalities r...

This article devises a social hermeneutical framework to make sense of the problem conflict polarized ideologies. First, it discusses irrationality in belief and behavior, arguing for contextual non-reductionist account rationality. Second, shows how approach can provide useful toolbox epistemology. Third, drawing from Paul Ricœur’s notions interpretations constitutive pathological ideologies, ...

The present study seeks to revisit the concept of intertextuality as integrated into a sociocognitive discourse-analytical perspective, whereby intertextual meanings can be explicated via semantic macropropositions, mental representations, event models, and pragmatic context models. study’s significance derives from its scholarly endeavour demonstrate how rhetorical are cognitively explicable i...

Skin-related delusional diseases with unspecific status and/or status without dermatological findings, among others ‘dermatological delusion’, are categorized as ‘delusional disorders’ (ICD-10: F 22.0; DSM-IV 297.1). A delusional disorder is diagnosed when (according to DSM-IV) the following criteria are fulfilled: A. Non-bizarre delusions (i.e. regarding situations not out of the realm of poss...

BACKGROUND Cognitive theories of persecutory delusions in schizophrenia include increased attention to threat and reduced re-appraisal of information during decision-making. METHODS We employed visual scan path measurements, an 'on-line' marker of attention, in schizophrenic patients with persecutory delusions (N = 19), negative symptom- and medication-matched patients with non-persecutory de...