BACKGROUND Cognitive models propose that cognitive and emotional processes, in the context of anomalies of experience, lead to and maintain delusions. No large-scale studies have investigated whether persecutory and grandiose delusions reflect differing contributions of reasoning and affective processes. This is complicated by their frequent cooccurrence in schizophrenia. We hypothesized that p...

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 ye...

and theory of mind The recent paper by Upthegrove et al provided an extensive study evaluating the association of childhood events with later development of psychosis. Hypotheses were partially supported and demonstrated that although childhood trauma (e.g. family disruption, abuse) was not associated with the development of psychosis, the authors did find a significant association between chil...

shared psychotic disorder also known as folie a dues is thought to occur in persons who live close together, so that delusions of the primarily ill patient are transferred to the partner. a case of shared paranoid psychotic disorder, with primary diagnosis of persecutory delusional disorder in the husband is described. the delusion and its consequent safety behaviors were so strong that led to ...

DSM-III proposes that only persecutory delusions and delusions of jealousy can occur in paranoid disorders, all other types of delusions in the absence of an affective syndrome being indicative of schizophrenia. The scant empirical evidence relevant to this issue suggests that the type of delusion on admission is not predictive of outcome in patients with paranoid psychosis. These findings rais...

Shared psychotic disorder also known as folie a dues is thought to occur in persons who live close together, so that delusions of the primarily ill patient are transferred to the partner. A case of shared paranoid psychotic disorder, with primary diagnosis of persecutory delusional disorder in the husband is described. The delusion and its consequent safety behaviors were so strong that led to ...

3 The purpose of the current study was to examine the way individuals with persecutory 4 delusions construe the self, others and their main persecutor with reference to the constructs 5 of malevolence and omnipotence, and examine the extent to which these interpersonal beliefs 6 link to distress, self-esteem and delusion conviction. Repertory grid methodology was used 7 to explore interpersonal...

Schizophrenia has been associated with an imbalance in inflammatory cytokines. Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor α (LIFR) is an integral component of the glycoprotein 130-LIFR signaling complex, which participates in signal transduction by members of the interleukin (IL)-6 cytokine family. The aim of this study was to investigate whether genetic...

Prior experiences and delusion content The Italian pilot study by Catone and colleagues (2) in this issue focuses on the relationship between stressful experiences and delusion content in adolescents with psychotic disorders. The authors hypothesize that a biographic continuity or “thematic link” can develop between the themes of previous life experiences and the content of a patient’s delusion...

The phenomenological presentation of late-onset schizophrenia is a topic of considerable debate. This study aims to look at the clinical presentation of late-onset schizophrenia. Charts of all subjects who received a diagnosis of schizophrenia between January 1990 and December 1993 with age of onset being 45 or more were systematically analysed using the OPCRIT checklist. Of the 89 subjects cho...