Recovery From Paranoia: a Qualitative Exploration

NCT ID: NCT04824781

Last Updated: 2022-05-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Total Enrollment: 15 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-06-09
• Study Completion Date: 2022-02-16

Brief Summary

Paranoia, the experience of undue or excessive mistrust, exists on a continuum which includes suspicious thoughts, ideas of reference, and persecutory delusions. Persecutory delusions refers to strong unfounded fears that others intend harm. These fears are very common. They affect around 70% of patients with schizophrenia. They can be distressing and make day-to-day tasks difficult. However, current treatments are limited and a significant proportion of people do not benefit sufficiently. Therefore, improvements in treatment are needed. A better understanding of the experience of recovery from paranoia will help inform theoretical understanding and treatment development. Currently we do not fully understand what causes paranoia to occur, persist, or end. As such, it is critical to understand the experiences of those who have recovered, in particular what elements encourage recovery. Therefore, the aim of this study is to gain a first-person perspective on how people recover from paranoia and what psychological processes are important for recovery from paranoia. Using a qualitative approach appropriate for exploratory research, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with 12-15 patients who have recovered from paranoia. Interviews will be analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative research approach which aims to provide insight on how an individual, in a particular situation, makes sense of their experience.

Conditions

Paranoia; Persecutory Delusion

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: OTHER
• Study Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE

Interventions

Qualitative interview

Participants will be interviewed about their experiences of recovery from paranoia.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Participant has recovered from the paranoia. This is defined as: A.) conviction in persecution beliefs is rated as less than 10% and B.) not experiencing significant distress related to paranoia and C.) currently scoring outside the clinical range of the revised Green et al., Paranoid Thoughts Scale (R-GPTS; Freeman, 2019);
• Participants should have had experiences of paranoia in the context of non-affective psychosis. This will be determined by participant's agreement that they previously had the sort of thoughts listed in the revised Green et al. Paranoid Thoughts Scale (R-GPTS; Freeman, 2019);
• Participant is currently a patient of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust;
• Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study;
• Aged 16 years or above;
• Participant has sufficient English language skills to participate in the interview.

Exclusion Criteria

• Currently experiencing acute psychiatric symptoms which preclude ability to participate in a sustained interview;
• Diagnosis of a moderate to severe intellectual disability;
• High levels of associated risk to self or to others e.g. actively suicidal;
• Primary diagnosis of alcohol or drug misuse; personality disorder; significant forensic history;
• At the time of recruitment COVID-19 restrictions do not permit face-to-face interviews and the participant is not willing or able to conduct the interview remotely via video call.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 16 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of Oxford

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Dr Felicity Waite, DClinPsy, BSc (Hons)

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

University of Oxford

Locations

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Countries

United Kingdom

Other Identifiers

HRA

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

IRAS

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

PID 15402

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id