Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T12:03:31.755Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attributional style and delusions: an investigation based on delusional content

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

HM Sharp ,
CF Fear  and
D Healy
HM Sharp
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Hergest Unit, Bangor, North Wales LL 57 2PW, UK
CF Fear
Affiliation:
Wotton Lawn Hospital, Gloucester, UK
D Healy*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Hergest Unit, Bangor, North Wales LL 57 2PW, UK
*
*Correspondence and reprints.
Get access

Summary

Individuals with persecutory delusions have been reported to make external and stable attributions for negative events and to have a tendency towards internal attributions for positive events. It remains unclear whether this abnormality is present in individuals with non-persecutory delusions. Using the Attributional Style Questionnaire, we assessed the attributional style of 19 individuals with persecutory or grandiose delusions (PG), 12 individuals whose delusional beliefs were non-persecutory and non-grandiose (NPG) and 24 controls. The PG group displayed externality in their causal attributions for bad events but those in the NPG group did not differ from controls. Both deluded groups were significantly more stable in their attributions for bad events in comparison to controls. Such findings argue against a primary role for attributional biases in the genesis of delusions, although a role in shaping delusional content and maintaining the disorder and a role for external attributions in defending against reductions in self-esteem cannot be excluded.

Keywords

psychosisdelusionscausal attributions
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , 1997 , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1997

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

American Psychiatric Association (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1987Google Scholar
Beck, AT, Beamesderfer, AAssessment of depression: The depression inventoryPichot, PPsychological Measurements in Psychopharmacology, Modern Problems in Pharmacopsychiatry Basel: Karger, 1974Google Scholar
Bentall, RPCognitive biases and abnormal beliefs: towards a model of persecutory delusionsDavid, AS, Cutting, JThe Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1984; 337–369Google Scholar
Bentall, RP, Kaney, S. Content specific information processing and persecutory delusions: An investigation using the emotional Stroop task. Br J Med Psychol 1989; 62: 355–364CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentall, RP, Kinderman, P, Kaney, S. The self, attributional processes and abnormal beliefs: towards a model of persecutory delusions. Behav Res Ther 1994; 32: 331–341CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Candido, CL, Romney, DM. Attributional style in paranoid vs depressed patients. Br J Med Psychol 1990; 63: 355–363CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eckblad, M, Chapman, LJ. Magical ideation as an indicator of schizotypy. J Cons Clin Psychol 1983; 51: 215–225CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fear, CF Cognitive processes in obsession compulsive and delusional disorders MD Thesis England: University of Liverpool, 1995Google Scholar
Fear, CF, Sharp, H, Healy, D. Cognitive processes in delusional disorderss Br J Psychiatry 168 1996 61–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Försterling, FAttribution Theory in Clinical Psychology New York: Wiley, 1988Google Scholar
Kaney, S, Bentall, RP. Persecutory delusions and attributional style. Br J Med Psychol 1989; 62: 191–198CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C, Semmel, A, von Baeyer, C, Abramson, LY, Metalsky, GI, Seligman, MEP. The attributional style questionnaire. Cog Res Ther 1982; 6: 287–298CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, HM, Fear, CF, Williams, JMG, et al.Delusional phenomenology: Dimensions of change. Behav Res Ther 1996; 34: 123–142CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverman, JS, Silverman, JA, Eardley, DA. Do maladaptive attitudes cause depression?. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984; 1: 28–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simons, AD, Murphy, GE, Levine, JE, Wetzel, RD. Cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression. Sustained improvement over one year. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1986; 43: 43–48CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweeney, PD, Anderson, K, Bailey, S. Attributional style in depression: a meta-analytic review. J Pers Soc Psychol 1986; 50: 974–991CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, SE. Adjustment to threatening events. Amer Psychol 1983; 38: 1161–1173CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weissman, AN. The dysfunctional attitude scale: A validation study. Diss Abstr Int 1979; 40: 1389–1390Google Scholar
Wessely, S, Buchanan, A, Reed, A, et al.Acting on delusions. I. Prevalence. Br J Psychiatry 1993; 163: 69–76CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, JMG, Healy, D, Teasdale, JD, White, W, Paykel, ES. Dysfunctional attitudes and vulnerability to persistent depression. Psychol Med 1990; 20: 375–381CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zigler, E, Glick, M. Is paranoid schizophrenia really camouflaged depression. Am Psychol 1988; 43: 284–290CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.