Prospects for a cognitive‐developmental account of psychotic experiences

Abstract

The literature on typical cognitive and sociocognitive development provides a rich source of hypotheses about the ontogenetic pathways leading to psychosis.

Bullying victimisation and paranoid ideation in people at ultra high risk for psychosis

“…The employment of a 'victim schema' is hypothesised to result in an attributional bias whereby victims may inaccurately attribute hostile intent in social situations perceived as threatening. This is also supported by the cognitive models of psychosis and persecutory delusions (Garety et al, 2001, Freeman et al, 2002, Bentall et al, 2007, Morrison and Wells, 2003 which suggests that early adverse life experiences such as bullying, can lead to an enduring cognitive vulnerability, characterised by negative schematic models of the self and others which influence the appraisal of daily stressors (e.g. I am vulnerable, others are dangerous).…”

Social defeat predicts paranoid appraisals in people at high risk for psychosis

“…Appraisal theory proposes that the emotional response and physiological activation that occur in a situation are dependent on the appraisal, or meaning, given to what just occurred and on whether we think we will be able to cope with what just happened (Lazarus, 1991). In line with this theoretical framework, cognitive models of psychosis propose that early stressful events may result in a cognitive vulnerability which influences the interpretation and appraisal of daily stressors, and increases the likelihood that anomalous experiences develop into a psychotic disorder (Bentall et al, 2007;Freeman et al, 2002;Garety et al, 2007;Garety et al, 2001;Morrison and Wells, 2003).…”

Psychobiology of threat appraisal in the context of psychotic experiences: A selective review

“…Cognitive models state that a key factor in the transition to psychotic symptoms is the negative interpretation or 'appraisal' of anomalous perceptual experiences [1][2][3][4][5]. Maladaptive appraisals endorsed by patients typically represent perceptions of externalised, personalised threat [6][7][8].…”