Psychological characteristics of religious delusions

Purpose Religious delusions are common and are considered to be particularly difficult to treat. In this study we investigated what psychological processes may underlie the reported treatment resistance. In particular, we focused on the perceptual, cognitive, affective and behavioural mechanisms held to maintain delusions in cognitive models of psychosis, as these form the key treatment targets in cognitive behavioural therapy. We compared religious delusions to delusions with other content. Methods Comprehensive measures of symptoms and psychological processes were completed by 383 adult participants with delusions and a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis, drawn from two large studies of cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis. Results Binary logistic regression showed that religious delusions were associated with higher levels of grandiosity (OR 7.5; 95 % CI 3.9–14.1), passivity experiences, having internal evidence for their delusion (anomalous experiences or mood states), and being willing to consider alternatives to their delusion (95 % CI for ORs 1.1–8.6). Levels of negative symptoms were lower. No differences were found in delusional conviction, insight or attitudes towards treatment. Conclusions Levels of positive symptoms, particularly anomalous experiences and grandiosity, were high, and may contribute to symptom persistence. However, contrary to previous reports, we found no evidence that people with religious delusions would be less likely to engage in any form of help. Higher levels of flexibility may make them particularly amenable to cognitive behavioural approaches, but particular care should be taken to preserve self-esteem and valued aspects of beliefs and experiences

Filipino migrant workers’ leisure and subjective quality of life in Macao

Utilizing 14 semi-structured interviews in a non-western context, this exploratory study examines how Filipino migrant workers’ leisure satisfaction and QoL are intertwined in Macao, China. The study reveals that Filipino migrant workers regard “family and friends”, and a sense of community as central to their QoL. Regarding leisure, the Filipino migrant workers experienced a lack of time-off and long working hours (structural leisure constraints) whilst living without their families in the Philippines (interpersonal leisure constraints). In addition, the Filipino migrant workers noted that few leisure options were available to them, and given commercial options dominate in Macao, the perceived cost of leisure participation clashes with the Filipino migrant workers responsibility to send remittances home. It is recommended that authorities and employers explore the importance of subjective QoL indicators such as sense of community that emerge from marginalized social groups, such as migrant workers, into their measurement systems and policy deliberations, to create a livable and sustainable community for all. Our study enriches the extant research by broadening the research location to focus on “voices” from low income migrants in a non-western context

Association of polygenic risk scores, traumatic life events and coping strategies with war-related PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity in the South Eastern Europe (SEE)-PTSD cohort

Objectives Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is triggered by extremely stressful environmental events and characterized by high emotional distress, re-experiencing of trauma, avoidance and hypervigilance. The present study uses polygenic risk scores (PRS) derived from the UK Biobank (UKBB) mega-cohort analysis as part of the PGC PTSD GWAS effort to determine the heritable basis of PTSD in the South Eastern Europe (SEE)-PTSD cohort. We further analyzed the relation between PRS and additional disease-related variables, such as number and intensity of life events, coping, sex and age at war on PTSD and CAPS as outcome variables. Methods Association of PRS, number and intensity of life events, coping, sex and age on PTSD were calculated using logistic regression in a total of 321 subjects with current and remitted PTSD and 337 controls previously subjected to traumatic events but not having PTSD. In addition, PRS and other disease-related variables were tested for association with PTSD symptom severity, measured by the Clinician Administrated PTSD Scale (CAPS) by liner regression. To assess the relationship between the main outcomes PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity, each of the examined variables was adjusted for all other PTSD related variables. Results The categorical analysis showed significant polygenic risk in patients with remitted PTSD and the total sample, whereas no effects were found on symptom severity. Intensity of life events as well as the individual coping style were significantly associated with PTSD diagnosis in both current and remitted cases. The dimensional analyses showed as association of war-related frequency of trauma with symptom severity, whereas the intensity of trauma yielded significant results independently of trauma timing in current PTSD. Conclusions The present PRS application in the SEE-PTSD cohort confirms modest but significant polygenic risk for PTSD diagnosis. Environmental factors, mainly the intensity of traumatic life events and negative coping strategies, yielded associations with PTSD both categorically and dimensionally with more significant p-values. This suggests that, at least in the present cohort of war-related trauma, the association of environmental factors and current individual coping strategies with PTSD psychopathology was stronger than the polygenic risk

Beyond belief

This article is closed access until 4th September 2013. It was published in the Journal of Health Psychology [© Sage]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105312448866Psychology, including health psychology, frequently invokes the concept of belief but almost never defines it. Drawing upon scholarship associated with the ‘affective turn’, this paper argues that belief might usefully be understood as a structure of socialised feeling, contingently allied to discursive practices and positions. This conceptualisation is explained, and its implications for health psychology discussed with respect to research on religiosity and spirituality and debates about the value of social cognition models such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour