BackgroundIn recent years a close association between anxiety and persecutory ideation
has been established, contrary to the traditional division of neurosis and
psychosis. Nonetheless, the two experiences are distinct. The aim of this
study was to identify factors that distinguish the occurrence of social
anxiety and paranoid thoughts in an experimental situation.MethodTwo hundred non-clinical individuals broadly representative of the UK general
population were assessed on a range of psychological factors, experienced a
neutral virtual reality social environment, and then completed state
measures of paranoia and social anxiety. Clustered bivariate logistic
regressions were carried out, testing interactions between potential
predictors and the type of reaction in virtual reality.ResultsThe strongest finding was that the presence of perceptual anomalies increased
the risk of paranoid reactions but decreased the risk of social anxiety.
Anxiety, depression, worry and interpersonal sensitivity all had similar
associations with paranoia and social anxiety.ConclusionsThe study shows that social anxiety and persecutory ideation share many of
the same predictive factors. Non-clinical paranoia may be a type of anxious
fear. However, perceptual anomalies are a distinct predictor of paranoia. In
the context of an individual feeling anxious, the occurrence of odd internal
feelings in social situations may lead to delusional ideas through a sense
of ‘things not seeming right’. The study illustrates the
approach of focusing on experiences such as paranoid thinking rather than
diagnoses such as schizophrenia.