Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:42:11.869Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Irrational Beliefs on Paranoid Thoughts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2018

Radu Soflau Open the ORCID record for Radu Soflau [Opens in a new window]  and
Daniel O. David
Radu Soflau
Affiliation:
The International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca
Daniel O. David*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
*
Correspondence to Daniel David, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University, No. 37, Republicii Street 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania. E-mail: daniel.david@ubbcluj.ro
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Although the ABC model proposed by cognitive behavioral theory has strong empirical support for a wide range of psychological problems, little is known about the role of irrational beliefs (IBs), a central concept of the ABC model, in the aetiology of paranoid thoughts, one of the most common psychotic symptoms. Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the impact of IBs on paranoid thoughts and people's perceptions of others. Method: Eighty-one non-clinical participants (m age = 21.21 years, SD = 2.72, range 18–33; 83.95% female) recruited for this study were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions: IBs or rational beliefs (RBs). In a role-play paradigm, subjects were asked to imagine holding a list of IBs or RBs, respectively, while being exposed to a neutral social context in a virtual reality environment. Results: In line with the ABC model, results indicate that IBs lead to significantly higher levels of state paranoid thoughts and more negative perceptions of others than RBs, even after controlling for participants’ baseline irrationality and trait paranoia [F (5,68) = 11.23, p < .001, Wilk's λ = .54, partial η2 = .45]. Conclusions: The findings of this paper suggest that IBs might play an aetiological role in the occurrence of paranoid thoughts. Practical and theoretical implications of these results are also considered.

Keywords

irrational beliefsparanoid thoughtsABC modelvirtual reality
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , May 2019 , pp. 270 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, P. L., Zimand, E., Hodges, L. F. and Rothbaum, B. O. (2005). Cognitive behavioral therapy for public-speaking anxiety using virtual reality for exposure. Depression and Anxiety, 22, 156–158. doi: 10.1002/da.20090Google Scholar
Bebbington, P. E., McBride, O., Steel, C., Kuipers, E., Radovanovič, M., Brugha, T. et al. (2013). The structure of paranoia in the general population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 202, 419–427. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.112.119032Google Scholar
Bennett, R. and Pearson, L. (2015). Group Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy for paranoia. Innovations in Psychosocial Interventions for Psychosis: Working with the Hard to Reach, 167.Google Scholar
Bentall, R. P., Jackson, H. F. and Pilgrim, D. (1988). Abandoning the concept of ‘schizophrenia’: some implications of validity arguments for psychological research into psychotic phenomena. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 303–324. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1988.tb00795.xGoogle Scholar
Bentall, R. P., Rowse, G., Shryane, N., Kinderman, P., Howard, R., Blackwood, N. et al. (2009). The cognitive and affective structure of paranoid delusions: a transdiagnostic investigation of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66, 236–247. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.1Google Scholar
Birchwood, M. and Chadwick, P. (1997). The omnipotence of voices: testing the validity of a cognitive model. Psychological Medicine, 27, 1345–1353.Google Scholar
Bond, F. W. and Dryden, W. (1997). Testing A REBT theory: the effects of rational beliefs, irrational beliefs, and their control or certainty contents on the functionality of inferences: I. In a social context. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 15, 157–188. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025042522741Google Scholar
Buchy, L., Woodward, T. S. and Liotti, M. (2007). A cognitive bias against disconfirmatory evidence (BADE) is associated with schizotypy. Schizophrenia Research, 90, 334–337. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.11.012Google Scholar
Chadwick, P. and Birchwood, M. (1994). The omnipotence of voices. A cognitive approach to auditory hallucinations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 190–201. doi: 10.1192/bjp.164.2.190Google Scholar
Chapman, L. J. and Chapman, J. P. (1980). Scales for rating psychotic and psychotic-like experiences as continua. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 6, 476. doi: 10.1093/schbul/6.3.476Google Scholar
Chapman, L. J., Chapman, J. P., Kwapil, T. R., Eckblad, M. and Zinser, M. C. (1994). Putatively psychosis-prone subjects 10 years later. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 171. doi: 10.1037//0021-843X.103.2.171Google Scholar
Davies, M. F. (2008). Irrational beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance. II. Experimental evidence for a causal link between two key features of REBT. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 26, 89–101. doi: 10.1007%2Fs10942-007-0060-7.Google Scholar
David, D., Cotet, C. D., Szentagotai, A., McMahon, J. and Digiuseppe, R. (2013). Philosophical versus psychological unconditional acceptance: implications for constructing the Unconditional Acceptance Questionnaire. Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, 13, 445–464.Google Scholar
David, D., Lynn, S. and Ellis, A. (2010). Rational and Irrational Beliefs. Implications for Research, Theory, and Practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
David, D., Schnur, J. and Belloiu, A. (2002). Another search for the ‘hot’ cognitions: appraisal, irrational beliefs, attributions, and their relation to emotion. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 20, 93–131. doi: 10.1023/A:1019876601693Google Scholar
David, D. and Szentagotai, A. (2006). Cognitions in cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies; toward an integrative model. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 284–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2005.09.003Google Scholar
DiGiuseppe, R., Leaf, R., Exner, T. and Robin, M. (1988). The development of a measure of irrational/rational thinking. In World Congress of Behavior Therapy, Edinburgh, Scotland.Google Scholar
Dryden, W. (1995). Preparing for Client Change in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. London: Whurr Publishers.Google Scholar
Dryden, W. and David, D. (2008). Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: current status. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 22, 195–209. https://doi.org/10.1891/0889-8391.22.3.195Google Scholar
Dryden, W., Ferguson, J. and Clark, T. (1989a). Beliefs and inferences: a test of a rational-emotive hypothesis 1. Performing in an academic seminar. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 7, 119–129. doi:10.1007/BF01076184Google Scholar
Dryden, W., Ferguson, J. and Hylton, B. (1989b). Beliefs and inferences: a test of a rational-emotive hypothesis: III. On expectations about enjoying a party. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 17, 68–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069888900760081Google Scholar
Elahi, A., Algorta, G. P., Varese, F., McIntyre, J. C. and Bentall, R. P. (2017). Do paranoid delusions exist on a continuum with subclinical paranoia? A multi-method taxometric study. Schizophrenia Research. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.03.022Google Scholar
Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy. L. Stuart.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. (1977). The basic clinical theory of rational-emotive therapy. Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy, 1, 3–34.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy (rev sub edition). Secaucus, NJ: Citadel.Google Scholar
Fischer, C., Bozanovic-Sosic, R. and Norris, M. (2004). Review of delusions in dementia. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 19 (1), 19–23. doi: 10.1177/153331750401900104Google Scholar
Flint, A. J. (1991). Delusions in dementia: a review. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. doi: 10.1176/jnp.3.2.121Google Scholar
Fornells-Ambrojo, M., Barker, C., Swapp, D., Slater, M., Antley, A. and Freeman, D. (2008). Virtual reality and persecutory delusions: safety and feasibility. Schizophrenia Research, 104, 228–236. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2008.05.013Google Scholar
Fowler, D., Freeman, D., Smith, B. E. N., Kuipers, E., Bebbington, P., Bashforth, H. et al. (2006). The Brief Core Schema Scales (BCSS): psychometric properties and associations with paranoia and grandiosity in non-clinical and psychosis samples. Psychological Medicine, 36, 749–759. doi: 10.1017/S0033291706007355Google Scholar
Freeman, D. (2006). Delusions in the nonclinical population. Current Psychiatry Reports, 8, 191–204. doi: 10.1007/s11920-006-0023-1Google Scholar
Freeman, D. (2007). Suspicious minds: the psychology of persecutory delusions. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 425–457. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2006.10.004Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Dunn, G., Startup, H., Pugh, K., Cordwell, J., Mander, H. et al. (2015). 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. Lancet Psychiatry, 2, 305–313. doi: 10.1016/s2215-0366(15)00039-5Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P., Slater, M., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D. et al. (2005a). The psychology of persecutory ideation II: a virtual reality experimental study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 193, 309–315.Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P. E., Smith, B., Rollinson, R., Fowler, D. et al. (2005b). Psychological investigation of the structure of paranoia in a non-clinical population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186, 427–435. doi: 10.1192/bjp.186.5.427Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Pugh, K., Antley, A., Slater, M., Bebbington, P., Gittins, M. et al. (2008). Virtual reality study of paranoid thinking in the general population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 258–263. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.044677Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Pugh, K., Green, C., Valmaggia, L., Dunn, G. and Garety, P. (2007). A measure of state persecutory ideation for experimental studies. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195, 781–784. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e318145a0a9Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Pugh, K., Vorontsova, N., Antley, A. and Slater, M. (2010). Testing the continuum of delusional beliefs: an experimental study using virtual reality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 83. doi: 10.1037/a0017514Google Scholar
Freeman, D., Slater, M., Bebbington, P. E., Garety, P. A., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D. et al. (2003). Can virtual reality be used to investigate persecutory ideation? Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 509–514. doi: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000082212.83842.feGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, F. K. and Jamison, K. R. (2007). Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press. Available at: https://www.google.com/books?hl=enandlr=andid=hOHWEtEKEO4Candoi=fndandpg=PR11anddq=Manic-depressive+illness:+bipolar+disorders+and+recurrent+depressionandots=H8TEuaBXNhandsig=Z_T5rdcE9eFVBg2_Dl6d4O654ZQGoogle Scholar
Gould, R. A., Mueser, K. T., Bolton, E., Mays, V. and Goff, D. (2001). Cognitive therapy for psychosis in schizophrenia: an effect size analysis. Schizophrenia Research, 48, 335–342. doi: 10.1016/S0920-9964(00)00145-6Google Scholar
Green, C. E. L., Freeman, D., Kuipers, E., Bebbington, P., Fowler, D., Dunn, G. and Garety, P. A. (2008). Measuring ideas of persecution and social reference: the Green et al. Paranoid Thought Scales (GPTS). Psychological Medicine, 38, 101–111. doi: 10.1017/S0033291707001638Google Scholar
Hamner, M. B., Frueh, B. C., Ulmer, H. G. and Arana, G. W. (1999). Psychotic features and illness severity in combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 45, 846–852. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3223(98)00301-1Google Scholar
Hansen, L. (2006). The ABCs of cognitive-behavioral therapy for schizophrenia. Psychiatric Times, 23, 49–49.Google Scholar
Johns, L. C., Cannon, M., Singleton, N., Murray, R. M., Farrell, M., Brugha, T. et al. (2004). Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 298–305. doi: 10.1192/bjp.185.4.298Google Scholar
Jørgensen, P. and Jensen, J. (1994). Delusional beliefs in first admitters. Psychopathology, 27, 100–112.Google Scholar
Lovibond, P. F. and Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 335–343. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(94)00075-UGoogle Scholar
McDuff, A. C. and Dryden, W. (1998). REBT and emotion: I. A role-play experiment using a shame/disappointment scenario to investigate the effects of rational, irrational and indifference beliefs on inferences and action tendencies. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 16, 235–254. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024912518928Google Scholar
Mehl, S., Werner, D. and Lincoln, T. M. (2015). Does Cognitive Behavior Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) show a sustainable effect on delusions? A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01450Google Scholar
Montgomery, G. H., David, D., DiLorenzo, T. A. and Schnur, J. B. (2007). Response expectancies and irrational beliefs predict exam-related distress. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: RET, 25, 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-006-0029-yGoogle Scholar
Myin-Germeys, I., Krabbendam, L. and van Os, J. (2003). Continuity of psychotic symptoms in the community. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 16, 443–449. doi: 10.1097/01.yco.0000079208. 36371.cdGoogle Scholar
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) (2014). Psychosis and schizophrenia in adults: treatment and management. London: National Institute for Clinical Excellence.Google Scholar
Olfson, M., Lewis-Fernández, R., Weissman, M. M., Feder, A., Gameroff, M. J., Pilowsky, D. and Fuentes, M. (2002). Psychotic symptoms in an urban general medicine practice. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1412–1419. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.159.8.1412Google Scholar
Poulton, R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Cannon, M., Murray, R. and Harrington, H. (2000). Children's self-reported psychotic symptoms and adult schizophreniform disorder: a 15-year longitudinal study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 1053–1058. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.57.11.1053Google Scholar
Robins, R. W., Hendin, H. M. and Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001). Measuring global self-esteem: Construct validation of a single-item measure and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 151–161. doi: 10.1177/0146167201272002Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Measures package, 61, 52.Google Scholar
Rubin, E. H., Drevets, W. C. and Burke, W. J. (1988). The nature of psychotic symptoms in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 1, 16–20. doi: 10.1177/089198878800100104Google Scholar
Schmitt, D. P. and Allik, J. (2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in 53 nations: exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 623. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.89.4.623Google Scholar
Smith, B., Fowler, D. G., Freeman, D., Bebbington, P., Bashforth, H., Garety, P. et al. (2006). Emotion and psychosis: links between depression, self-esteem, negative schematic beliefs and delusions and hallucinations. Schizophrenia Research, 86, 181–188. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.06.018Google Scholar
Soflau, R. and David, D. (2016). A meta-analytical approach of the relationships between the irrationality of beliefs and the functionality of automatic thoughts. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 41, 178–192, doi:10.1007/s10608-016-9812-yGoogle Scholar
Stompe, T., Friedman, A., Ortwein, G., Strobl, R., Chaudhry, H. R., Najam, N. and Chaudhry, M. R. (1999). Comparison of delusions among schizophrenics in Austria and in Pakistan. Psychopathology, 32, 225–234. doi: 29094Google Scholar
Trower, P. (2003). Theoretical developments in REBT as applied to schizophrenia. In Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy: Theoretical Developments, pp. 228–246.Google Scholar
Valmaggia, L. R., Freeman, D., Green, C., Garety, P., Swapp, D., Antley, A. et al. (2007). Virtual reality and paranoid ideations in people with an ‘at-risk mental state’ for psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 191, S63–68. doi: 10.1192/bjp.191.51.s63Google Scholar
van Os, J., Hanssen, M., Bijl, R. V. and Ravelli, A. (2000). Strauss (1969) revisited: a psychosis continuum in the general population? Schizophrenia Research, 45, 11–20. doi: 10.1016/S0920-9964(99)00224-8Google Scholar
van Os, J., Linscott, R. J., Myin-Germeys, I., Delespaul, P. and Krabbendam, L. (2009). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the psychosis continuum: evidence for a psychosis proneness–persistence–impairment model of psychotic disorder. Psychological Medicine, 39, 179–195. doi: 10.1017/S0033291708003814Google Scholar
van Os, J. and Verdoux, H. (2003). Diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia: categories versus dimensions, distributions versus disease. In The Epidemiology of Schizophrenia, pp. 364–410.Google Scholar
Verdoux, H. and van Os, J. (2002). Psychotic symptoms in non-clinical populations and the continuum of psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 54, 59–65. doi: 10.1016/S0920-9964(01)00352-8Google Scholar
Wallach, H. S., Safir, M. P. and Bar-Zvi, M. (2009). Virtual reality cognitive behavior therapy for public speaking anxiety: a randomized clinical trial. Behavior Modification, 33, 314–338. doi: 10.1177/0145445509331926Google Scholar
Wykes, T., Steel, C., Everitt, B. and Tarrier, N. (2008). Cognitive behavior therapy for schizophrenia: effect sizes, clinical models, and methodological rigor. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34, 523–537. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbm114Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Soflau and David supplementary material

Soflau and David supplementary material 1

Download Soflau and David supplementary material(File)
File 14 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.