{ "items": [ "\n\n
<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Research on paranoia in adults suggests a spectrum of severity, but this\n dimensional approach has yet to be applied to children or to groups from\n different countries.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Aims</jats:title><jats:p>To investigate the structure, prevalence and correlates of mistrust in\n children living in the UK and Hong Kong.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>Children aged 8\u201314 years from the UK (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 1086) and Hong\n Kong (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 1412) completed a newly developed mistrust\n questionnaire as well as standard questionnaire measures of anxiety,\n self-esteem, aggression and callous\u2013unemotional traits.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Confirmatory factor analysis of the UK data supported a three-factor\n model \u2013 mistrust at home, mistrust at school and general mistrust \u2013 with\n a clear positive skew in the data: just 3.4%, 8.5% and 4.1% of the\n children endorsed at least half of the mistrust items for home, school\n and general subscales respectively. These findings were replicated in\n Hong Kong. Moreover, compared with their peers, \u2018mistrustful\u2019 children\n (in both countries) reported elevated rates of anxiety, low self-esteem,\n aggression and callous\u2013unemotional traits.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Mistrust may exist as a quantitative trait in children, which, as in\n adults, is associated with elevated risks of internalising and\n externalising problems.</jats:p></jats:sec>
\n \n\n \n \nBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Insomnia is a putative causal factor for persecutory thinking. Recent epidemiological studies show a strong association of insomnia and paranoia. The clinical implication is that reducing insomnia will reduce paranoid delusions. This study, evaluating for the first time the treatment of insomnia in individuals with persecutory delusions, provides a test of this hypothesis. It was predicted that a brief cognitive behavioural intervention for insomnia (CBT-I) for individuals with persistent persecutory delusions and sleep difficulties would not only reduce the insomnia but that it would also reduce the paranoia. METHODS: Fifteen patients with persistent persecutory delusions and insomnia in the context of a psychotic disorder were each individually given a standard-format, four-session CBT-I intervention. Outcome assessments were conducted at pre-treatment, post-treatment and one-month follow-up. RESULTS: There were no missing data. Following the intervention, significant reductions were found in levels of insomnia and the persecutory delusions. The effect sizes were large, and the changes were maintained at the follow-up. At least two-thirds of participants made substantial improvements in insomnia and approximately half showed substantial reductions in the persecutory delusions. There were also reductions in levels of anomalies of experience, anxiety and depression. LIMITATIONS: The main limitations are the absence of a control group and unblinded assessments. A more methodologically rigorous evaluation of this intervention is now warranted. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest that CBT-I can be used to treat insomnia in individuals with persecutory delusions and that, consistent with the hypothesised causal role, it also lessens the delusions.
\n \n\n \n \nDelusions are often resistant to change, persisting despite successful antipsychotic treatment or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. This study aimed to target reasoning processes, particularly the 'Jumping to Conclusions' (JTC) bias and belief flexibility, which are thought to play a part in maintaining delusional conviction. 13 participants with a diagnosis of psychosis and high levels of conviction in their delusions completed a one-off computerised training package, lasting approximately 1.5\u00a0h. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, pre-intervention (two weeks later), post-intervention (immediately after completing the training) and at 1 month follow-up. The package was well received by participants. There were improvements in JTC, belief flexibility and delusional conviction between pre- and post-intervention measures. Controlled studies powered to detect changes in key outcomes are warranted in order to evaluate the efficacy of the programme.
\n \n\n \n \n<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>It is unknown whether a \u2018jumping to conclusions\u2019 (JTC) data-gathering bias is apparent in specific delusion sub-types. A group with persecutory delusions is compared with a sample of non-clinical controls on a probabilistic reasoning task. Results suggest JTC is apparent in individuals with the persecutory sub-type of delusions.</jats:p>
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