M61. THE ROLE OF PERSONAL WORLDVIEW IN PREDICTING DELUSION PRONENESS IN A NON-CLINICAL SAMPLE

Abstract

BackgroundUnusual thought processes, often referred to as delusion proneness, are not unique to clinical populations. Understanding the factors that contribute to delusion proneness has important theoretical and clinical implications in prodromal psychosis.MethodsThis study ascertained the presence of delusion proneness and associated levels of distress, preoccupation and conviction in a large sample of healthy participants (N=258, M= 33.62 years, SD =12.04), and subsequently investigated two aspects of personal worldview in predicting delusion proneness: Locus of control (LOC) and core positive and negative schemas of the self and others. This data was collected via an online survey.ResultsStepwise regression analyses indicated that negative schemas of others predicted the presence of delusion proneness (p<.001) and associated levels of distress (p= .012) and preoccupation (p= .025); whilst negative schemas of the self predicted only the presence of delusion proneness (p= .001). Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that LOC was not a significant predictor of the presence of delusion proneness (p= .141), or associated features of distress (p =.281), preoccupation (p=.220) and conviction (p= .660).DiscussionThe current study found that negative schemas of others accounted for more variance in predicting delusion proneness and aspects of experience (distress and preoccupation) than negative self- schemas. Our study may suggest that therapy focusing on one’s regulation of emotions and assumptions about others in individuals with delusion-like beliefs may be more critical in alleviating delusional symptoms than exclusively focusing on self-schemas.