Cited by 107Schizophrenia research and treatmentAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesMental Health and Psychiatry

Cognitive factors maintaining persecutory delusions in psychosis: The contribution of depression.

Vorontsova, Natasha, Garety, Philippa, Freeman, Daniel·2013·Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Abstract

Depression is common in people with schizophrenia, but how it might directly contribute to the persistence of psychotic symptoms has rarely been tested. The key aim of the present study was to test whether depression and associated cognitive processes predict the maintenance of persecutory delusions. Three groups of participants were tested at baseline: 60 patients with persecutory delusions in the context of a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis, 30 patients with depression, and 30 nonclinical controls. They completed interviewer and self-report assessments of depression and paranoia, and measures of six cognitive factors (schematic beliefs, experiential avoidance, autobiographical memory, problem solving, rumination, worry style). The patients with persecutory delusions were then assessed again, six months later. It was found that 50% of the patients with persecutory delusions met diagnostic criteria for major depression. Cognitive processes found to be associated with depression across the groups were negative schematic beliefs about the self, experiential avoidance and rumination, but not autobiographical memory or problem solving. The severity of initial depression in patients with persecutory delusions predicted the persistence of paranoia over six months. A number of cognitive factors also predicted the persistence of persecutory delusions, including negative schematic beliefs about the self, worry, and problem-solving difficulties. In conclusion, depression is common in patients with current persecutory delusions, and it shows similar cognitive features to major depressive disorder. The results of this study indicate that depression and related processes may contribute to the maintenance of paranoia. Trials are warranted of depression-related therapeutic techniques for people with persecutory delusions.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/a0034952

Cites

84 of 84 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Vorontsova, N., Garety, P., & Freeman, D.
Affiliations
  • King's College London (GB)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
Venue
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Published
2013-11
Volume
122
Issue
4
Pages
1121-1131
ISSN
  • 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1846
OpenAlex
W2022646248
Cited by
107
References
83
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8
FWCI
6.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Abnormal Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
  • UPT. Syiah Kuala University Library (Syiah Kuala University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Department of Health
  • South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
Keywords
persecutory delusions, paranoia, depression, schizophrenia spectrum, experiential avoidance, rumination, worry, problem solving, autobiographical memory, cognitive processes
MeSH terms
Adult, Analysis of Variance, Cognition, Delusions, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychotic Disorders, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Schizophrenia, Paranoid, Schizophrenic Psychology, Case-Control Studies

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review