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  • Cited by 286
  • Cited by
    Crossref Citations
    Crossref logo
    This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.
    Saalfeld, Vanessa Ramadan, Zeina Bell, Vaughan and Raihani, Nichola J. 2018. Experimentally induced social threat increases paranoid thinking. Royal Society Open Science, Vol. 5, Issue. 8, p. 180569.
    Meisel, Susanne F. Garety, Philippa A. Stahl, Daniel and Valmaggia, Lucia R. 2018. Interpersonal processes in paranoia: a systematic review. Psychological Medicine, p. 1.
    Imhoff, Roland and Lamberty, Pia 2018. How paranoid are conspiracy believers? Toward a more fine-grained understanding of the connect and disconnect between paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories. European Journal of Social Psychology,
    Lincoln, Tania M Sundag, Johanna Schlier, Björn and Karow, Anne 2018. The Relevance of Emotion Regulation in Explaining Why Social Exclusion Triggers Paranoia in Individuals at Clinical High Risk of Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, Vol. 44, Issue. 4, p. 757.
    Carr, Sarah Christina Hardy, Amy and Fornells-Ambrojo, Miriam 2018. Relationship between attachment style and symptom severity across the psychosis spectrum: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, Vol. 59, Issue. , p. 145.
    Sellers, Rachel Emsley, Richard Wells, Adrian and Morrison, Anthony P. 2018. The role of cognitive and metacognitive factors in non-clinical paranoia and negative affect. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, Vol. 91, Issue. 2, p. 169.
    Bell, Vaughan and O’Driscoll, Ciarán 2018. The network structure of paranoia in the general population. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Vol. 53, Issue. 7, p. 737.
    Sundag, Johanna Ascone, Leonie and Lincoln, Tania M. 2018. The predictive value of early maladaptive schemas in paranoid responses to social stress. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Vol. 25, Issue. 1, p. 65.
    Seo, Jihyeon and Choi, Ji Young 2018. Social defeat as a mediator of the relationship between childhood trauma and paranoid ideation. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 260, Issue. , p. 48.
    Finn, Emily S. Corlett, Philip R. Chen, Gang Bandettini, Peter A. and Constable, R. Todd 2018. Trait paranoia shapes inter-subject synchrony in brain activity during an ambiguous social narrative. Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue. 1,
    Zangrilli, Alessia 2018. La bambina e le sue mappe. Commento al caso clinico di Anna. PSICOBIETTIVO, p. 119.
    Rüegg, Nina Moritz, Steffen Berger, Thomas Lüdtke, Thies and Westermann, Stefan 2018. An internet-based intervention for people with psychosis (EviBaS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry, Vol. 18, Issue. 1,
    Sun, Xiaoqi So, Suzanne Ho-wai Chiu, Chui-De Chan, Raymond Chor-kiu and Leung, Patrick Wing-leung 2018. Paranoia and anxiety: A cluster analysis in a non-clinical sample and the relationship with worry processes. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 197, Issue. , p. 144.
    Ullrich, Simone Keers, Robert Shaw, Jenny Doyle, Michael and Coid, Jeremy W. 2018. Acting on delusions: the role of negative affect in the pathway towards serious violence. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, p. 1.
    Dietrichkeit, Mona Flint, Kristina Krieger, Eva Grzella, Karsten Nagel, Matthias and Moritz, Steffen 2018. Two case studies from a virtual reality intervention for delusions: feasibility and preliminary evidence. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, Vol. 11, Issue. ,
    Rehman, Aliyah Gumley, Andrew and Biello, Stephany 2018. Sleep quality and paranoia: The role of alexithymia, negative emotions and perceptual anomalies. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 259, Issue. , p. 216.
    McDonnell, J. Stahl, D. Day, F. McGuire, P. and Valmaggia, L.R. 2018. Interpersonal sensitivity in those at clinical high risk for psychosis mediates the association between childhood bullying victimisation and paranoid ideation: A virtual reality study. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 192, Issue. , p. 89.
    Gollwitzer, Anton Wilczynska, Magdalena and Jaya, Edo S. 2018. Targeting the link between loneliness and paranoia via an interventionist-causal model framework. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 263, Issue. , p. 101.
    Cludius, Barbara Schröder, Johanna and Moritz, Steffen 2018. Expectancy Effects in Self-Help Depression Treatment: First Evidence that the Rationale Given for an Online Study Impacts the Outcome. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Vol. 46, Issue. 02, p. 195.
    Nittel, Clara Marie Lincoln, Tania Marie Lamster, Fabian Leube, Dirk Rief, Winfried Kircher, Tilo and Mehl, Stephanie 2018. Expressive suppression is associated with state paranoia in psychosis: An experience sampling study on the association between adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and paranoia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology,
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Psychological investigation of the structure of paranoia in a non-clinical population

  • Daniel Freeman (a1), Philippa A. Garety (a1), Paul E. Bebbington (a2), Benjamin Smith (a2), Rebecca Rollinson (a3), David Fowler (a3), Elizabeth Kuipers (a4), Katarzyna Ray (a5) and Graham Dunn (a6)...
Abstract
Background

Previous studies of paranoia have assessed only limited numbers of paranoid thoughts, and have not considered the experience from a multidimensional perspective or examined the relationship between different suspicious thoughts.

Aims

To assess a wide range of paranoid thoughts multidimensionally and examine their distribution, to identify the associated coping strategies and to examine social–cognitive processes and paranoia.

Method

Six questionnaire assessments were completed by 1202 individuals using the internet.

Results

Paranoid thoughts occurred regularly in approximately a third of the group. Increasing endorsement of paranoid thoughts was characterised by the recruitment of rarer and odder ideas. Higher levels of paranoia were associated with emotional and avoidant coping, less use of rational and detached coping, negative attitudes to emotional expression, submissive behaviours and lower social rank.

Conclusions

Suspiciousness is common and there may be a hierarchical arrangement of such thoughts that builds on common emotional concerns.

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Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 
Corresponding author
Dr Daniel Freeman, Department of Psychology, PO Box 77, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. E-mail: D.Freeman@iop.kcl.ac.uk
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Declaration of interest

None.

Footnotes
References
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  • Cited by 286
  • Cited by
    Crossref Citations
    Crossref logo
    This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.
    Saalfeld, Vanessa Ramadan, Zeina Bell, Vaughan and Raihani, Nichola J. 2018. Experimentally induced social threat increases paranoid thinking. Royal Society Open Science, Vol. 5, Issue. 8, p. 180569.
    Meisel, Susanne F. Garety, Philippa A. Stahl, Daniel and Valmaggia, Lucia R. 2018. Interpersonal processes in paranoia: a systematic review. Psychological Medicine, p. 1.
    Imhoff, Roland and Lamberty, Pia 2018. How paranoid are conspiracy believers? Toward a more fine-grained understanding of the connect and disconnect between paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories. European Journal of Social Psychology,
    Lincoln, Tania M Sundag, Johanna Schlier, Björn and Karow, Anne 2018. The Relevance of Emotion Regulation in Explaining Why Social Exclusion Triggers Paranoia in Individuals at Clinical High Risk of Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, Vol. 44, Issue. 4, p. 757.
    Carr, Sarah Christina Hardy, Amy and Fornells-Ambrojo, Miriam 2018. Relationship between attachment style and symptom severity across the psychosis spectrum: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, Vol. 59, Issue. , p. 145.
    Sellers, Rachel Emsley, Richard Wells, Adrian and Morrison, Anthony P. 2018. The role of cognitive and metacognitive factors in non-clinical paranoia and negative affect. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, Vol. 91, Issue. 2, p. 169.
    Bell, Vaughan and O’Driscoll, Ciarán 2018. The network structure of paranoia in the general population. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Vol. 53, Issue. 7, p. 737.
    Sundag, Johanna Ascone, Leonie and Lincoln, Tania M. 2018. The predictive value of early maladaptive schemas in paranoid responses to social stress. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Vol. 25, Issue. 1, p. 65.
    Seo, Jihyeon and Choi, Ji Young 2018. Social defeat as a mediator of the relationship between childhood trauma and paranoid ideation. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 260, Issue. , p. 48.
    Finn, Emily S. Corlett, Philip R. Chen, Gang Bandettini, Peter A. and Constable, R. Todd 2018. Trait paranoia shapes inter-subject synchrony in brain activity during an ambiguous social narrative. Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue. 1,
    Zangrilli, Alessia 2018. La bambina e le sue mappe. Commento al caso clinico di Anna. PSICOBIETTIVO, p. 119.
    Rüegg, Nina Moritz, Steffen Berger, Thomas Lüdtke, Thies and Westermann, Stefan 2018. An internet-based intervention for people with psychosis (EviBaS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry, Vol. 18, Issue. 1,
    Sun, Xiaoqi So, Suzanne Ho-wai Chiu, Chui-De Chan, Raymond Chor-kiu and Leung, Patrick Wing-leung 2018. Paranoia and anxiety: A cluster analysis in a non-clinical sample and the relationship with worry processes. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 197, Issue. , p. 144.
    Ullrich, Simone Keers, Robert Shaw, Jenny Doyle, Michael and Coid, Jeremy W. 2018. Acting on delusions: the role of negative affect in the pathway towards serious violence. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, p. 1.
    Dietrichkeit, Mona Flint, Kristina Krieger, Eva Grzella, Karsten Nagel, Matthias and Moritz, Steffen 2018. Two case studies from a virtual reality intervention for delusions: feasibility and preliminary evidence. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, Vol. 11, Issue. ,
    Rehman, Aliyah Gumley, Andrew and Biello, Stephany 2018. Sleep quality and paranoia: The role of alexithymia, negative emotions and perceptual anomalies. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 259, Issue. , p. 216.
    McDonnell, J. Stahl, D. Day, F. McGuire, P. and Valmaggia, L.R. 2018. Interpersonal sensitivity in those at clinical high risk for psychosis mediates the association between childhood bullying victimisation and paranoid ideation: A virtual reality study. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 192, Issue. , p. 89.
    Gollwitzer, Anton Wilczynska, Magdalena and Jaya, Edo S. 2018. Targeting the link between loneliness and paranoia via an interventionist-causal model framework. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 263, Issue. , p. 101.
    Cludius, Barbara Schröder, Johanna and Moritz, Steffen 2018. Expectancy Effects in Self-Help Depression Treatment: First Evidence that the Rationale Given for an Online Study Impacts the Outcome. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Vol. 46, Issue. 02, p. 195.
    Nittel, Clara Marie Lincoln, Tania Marie Lamster, Fabian Leube, Dirk Rief, Winfried Kircher, Tilo and Mehl, Stephanie 2018. Expressive suppression is associated with state paranoia in psychosis: An experience sampling study on the association between adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and paranoia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology,
    Download full list
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Psychological investigation of the structure of paranoia in a non-clinical population

  • Daniel Freeman (a1), Philippa A. Garety (a1), Paul E. Bebbington (a2), Benjamin Smith (a2), Rebecca Rollinson (a3), David Fowler (a3), Elizabeth Kuipers (a4), Katarzyna Ray (a5) and Graham Dunn (a6)...
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