Background. Previous studies have shown that the use of simulated social environments permits paranoid thinking to be studied. These studies have used a cognitive model of paranoia and suggest that anxiety is an important part of the paranoid experience. Additionally, research addressing the relationship of childhood trauma to psychosis indicates that psychotic symptoms are related to childhood abuse and neglect. The aim of the study was to explore the role of anxiety and childhood trauma in psychotic and anxious participants using a simulated social encounter task. Method. 15 individuals with paranoid delusions (diagnosed with a psychotic disorder), 11 with anxiety disorders and 14 non-clinical controls experienced a simulated social encounter task populated by four filmed characters instructed to behave neutrally (n=40). After the task, the participants completed questionnaires to describe their experience of the situation. 5 questionnaires were used to study paranoid thoughts. The first two were the Details of Threat questionnaire and the VR questionnaire. The other 3 were designed specifically for the study (faces, trust and power questionnaires). Additionally, the Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories and also a childhood trauma questionnaire were used as indicators of emotional distress. Results. Appraisals from the clinical participants but not from the non-clinical ones were persecutory. The psychological variables from the cognitive model that predicted persecutory ideation were anxiety and neglect. Further, over-sensitivity towards the neutral faces of the characters distinguished again, clinical and non-clinical participants. Conclusions. Paranoid thinking was elicited in clinical participants (anxious and psychotic) by a simulation of a social situation but not in normal controls. Anxiety and two forms of childhood trauma (physical and emotional neglect) were closely associated to persecutory thoughts. The results provide support for the cognitive model of paranoid delusions suggesting that anxiety and neglect underlay paranoid thinking. The study also shows the usefulness of simulations in clinical research.

Recent work has shown that paranoia - excessive suspiciousness of others - exists on a spectrum of severity in the adult general population. Yet little is known about either the nature of mistrust in children or whether studying paranoia in children could increase our understanding of the aetiology of adult paranoia and inform early prevention strategies. The current thesis, comprised of three main studies, adopted a hitherto lacking developmental perspective to examine social mistrust in middle childhood. The first goal was to assess the structure, prevalence, correlates and short-term stability of childhood mistrust in nonclinical samples drawn from two different countries (the UK and Hong Kong). Classroom-based surveys of 8- to 14-year-olds from the UK (N = 1,086) and Hong Kong (N = 1,470) were carried out between 2011 and 2014. A new measure developed for the study was administered: The Social Mistrust Scale. The second goal was to examine children’s definitions and reasons for social trust and mistrust. This was a large qualitative examination of interviews with children, in order to learn more about the phenomenon at this age and generate future research questions to test. The final main goal was to test the association with childhood mistrust and a number of potential causal factors identified from the adult literature. Cognitive processes (i.e., reasoning bias, theory of mind and executive function) and psychosocial risk factors (i.e., bullying, loneliness, peer-rated social status, and hostile attribution bias) were studied. Overall, this thesis presented evidence that: (i) Social mistrust is prevalent in a minority of children, and it is associated with both internalising and externalising problems; (ii) Qualitative interviews indicated that mistrust was often well-justified but that a minority of children may well be having excessive suspiciousness about being targeted; (iii) Mistrustful children (especially with mistrust about school) report persistent victimisation and hostile attribution bias but do not show biases in non-affective cognitive performance compared with trusting peers; and (iv) There is moderate agreement between self-report and interviewer assessments of paranoia, child and peer ratings of mistrust but not with parent ratings. This thesis began the task of researching a developmental perspective on childhood suspiciousness, extending the work in adults. Mistrust is present in children and associated with symptoms of mental health problems and adverse experiences. The extent to which the fears were unfounded (i.e. true paranoia was assessed) was not established in the thesis nor the causal direction of the associations found. Continued research on social mistrust in community children and beyond may provide promising avenues to earlier preventions and better treatments of paranoia.

This paper examines how the protagonist of Gravity’s Rainbow, Tyrone Slothrop, seeks subjective fixity in the historical and postmodern sublime. Using an approach that draws upon the theories of Freud, Lacan, and Zizek, the essay argues that while Slothrop indulges his own paranoia and commits acts of increasing perversion to assert self, these attempts actually blur the lines of identity instead of presenting an autonomous being.

Thesis (M.A. (English))--Rhodes University, 2003.

Kon Satoshi's Paranoia Agent is a series that demonstrates how many types of identity are constructed. While some aspects of the series are based in fantasy, Paranoia Agent takes place in a Tokyo that closely resembles the Tokyo of the real world. In particular, a corporate icon named Maromi parallels the rise of icons such as Hello Kitty in Japan; the public's devotion to Maromi demonstrates how consumerism shapes one's personal identity. Consumerism can also be used to explain the existence of Lil' Slugger, a type of phantasm who initially appears to free the people of Tokyo from their problems, but is actually a "crutch" that society uses to run away from reality. The destination of this escape can be called "consumutopia," a virtual space of "perfect consumption" where reality can be ignored. Consumutopia is one example of the - real or metaphorical - "spaces" that are examined in Paranoia Agent.

Proefschrift Maastricht. / Lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2004.

The aim of this thesis was to explore the relationship between anger and aggression, insecure attachment, paranoia and social cognition in psychosis. It is presented as three separate papers: 1) a systematic review examining the relationship between paranoia and aggression in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, 2) an empirical study investigating predictors and mediators of trait anger across the psychosis continuum: the role of insecure attachment, paranoia and social cognition and 3) a critical reflection of the research process. Paper one provides a systematic review of the relationship between paranoia and aggression in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. A comprehensive search of the published literature identified fifteen eligible studies. The quality of the included articles is critically appraised during the synthesis of the findings. Methodological limitations, clinical implications and recommendations for future research are considered. Paper two provides an examination of predictors and mediators of trait anger across the psychosis continuum, considering the role of insecure attachment, paranoia and social cognition. Tests of theory of mind and measures of attachment, hostile attribution bias, paranoia and anger were administered to 174 participants (14 ultra-high risk of psychosis, 20 first-episode psychosis, 20 established psychosis and 120 non-clinical). Multiple regression analysis found attachment avoidance, paranoia and hostile attribution bias were significantly related to trait anger. Mediation analysis revealed paranoia mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and trait anger. The results are discussed with consideration to previous research and limitations of the study. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are also offered. Paper three provides a critical reflection of papers one and two, with reference to their design, implementation and interpretation. Personal reflections of the research process as a whole are also provided.

No description available.

Submitted by Rosivalda Pereira (mrs.pereira@ufma.br) on 2017-07-05T19:08:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ViniciosBraga.pdf: 576032 bytes, checksum: 7f9a13e195f5e162977f6c1afb1bfde5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-05T19:08:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ViniciosBraga.pdf: 576032 bytes, checksum: 7f9a13e195f5e162977f6c1afb1bfde5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-27 / Every day we witness scenes of violence, intolerance and conflicts in different ways and intensities, whether on television, in the neighborhood or even inside our homes. Contemporary authors of Psychoanalysis has written about paranoid frames that can manifest even when there is no psychosis. Such frames are related to aggression that we see expressed in various ways. So, our main objective of this work show how you can be a paranoid framework in the absence of psychosis. To do so, we open the job discussing the notion of unconscious structured as a language, situating the field in which we are working and that the subject treated in the course of our exposition. Then, we used a presentation Verwerfung phenomenon to show that, although it is a mechanism usually linked to psychotic structure, is the base of own symbolic order of any speaker. We also demonstrated how the creation of an Ego is properly paranoid to have a rivalitary base that brings into play an aggressiveness (not always) latent, so that we could learn how it leaves marks that can lead a man to present typically paranoid traits, even if can not find a psychosis. This aggression is inherent in the human psyche and constitutes the extent that our Ego - imaginary function - is founded on such a basis where we first know ourselves into the other. Finally, we discuss about what is the paranoia and how manifest paranoid phenomena in order to contribute to a hearing in the clinic in addition to the closure of paranoid runs only in the field of psychosis. We were able to confirm that imaginary phenomena can not be taken alone as a criterion for the structure, and, therefore, we find situations in which paranoid manifestations occur even in the absence of psychosis. As a working method, we conducted literature search, which resorted to reading and rereading of Freud and Lacan, as well as authors who deal with the issue pertaining to the transmission line of these. With this, we aim to raise the concepts in question by promoting a dialogue between them to develop the question presented. The accuracy of the method in psychoanalysis is not in the accumulation of data, but to submit to the laws of language, in order not to us bogged in definitions closed in advance and be able to pay attention to the development of ideas as presented by the authors, as well as the progress the subject who writes. / Diariamente assistimos cenas de violência, intolerância e conflitos de diferentes modos e intensidades, seja na televisão, na vizinhança ou, ainda, dentro de nossas casas. Autores contemporâneos de Psicanálise tem escrito a respeito de quadros paranoicos que podem se manifestar mesmo quando não há psicose. Tais quadros estão relacionados à agressividade que vemos expressas nas mais diversas formas. Então, temos como principal objetivo deste trabalho apresentar como é possível haver um quadro paranoico na ausência de psicose. Para tanto, abrimos o trabalho discutindo a noção de inconsciente estruturado como linguagem, situando o campo em que estamos trabalhando e de que sujeito tratamos no decorrer de nossa exposição. Em seguida, lançamos mão de uma apresentação do fenômeno da Verwerfung para mostrar que, embora seja um mecanismo normalmente atrelado à estrutura psicótica, está à base do próprio ordenamento simbólico de qualquer falante. Demonstramos ainda como a constituição de um Eu é propriamente paranoica ao possuir uma base rivalitária que põe em jogo uma agressividade (nem sempre) latente, de modo que pudemos apreender como isso deixa marcas que podem levar um sujeito a apresentar traços tipicamente paranoicos, mesmo que não se possa constatar uma psicose. Essa agressividade é inerente ao próprio psiquismo humano e se constitui na medida em que nosso eu – função imaginária – é fundado sobre uma base tal onde nos apreendemos primeiramente no outro. Por fim, discorremos acerca do que é a paranoia e como se manifestam fenômenos paranoicos de modo a contribuir para uma escuta na clínica para além do encerramento dos funcionamentos paranoicos somente no campo da psicose. Pudemos confirmar que fenômenos imaginários não podem ser tomados isoladamente como critério para a estrutura, e, por isso mesmo, podemos encontrar situações em que manifestações paranoicas ocorrem mesmo na ausência de psicose. Como método de trabalho, realizamos pesquisa bibliográfica, em que recorremos a leituras e releituras de Freud e de Lacan, bem como de autores que versam sobre o tema que pertencem à linha de transmissão desses. Com isso, objetivamos levantar os conceitos em questão promovendo uma interlocução entre eles para desenvolver a questão apresentada. O rigor do método em Psicanálise não está no acúmulo de dados, mas em se submeter às leis da linguagem, a fim de não nos prendermos em definições fechadas a priori e podermos nos atentar ao desenvolvimento das ideias como apresentado pelos autores, bem como ao percurso do sujeito que escreve.