Trucharte, A., Carmen, V., Pacios, J. et al. (7 more authors) (2024) Could an evaluative conditioning intervention ameliorate paranoid beliefs? Self-reported and neurophysiological evidence from a brief intervention focused on improving self-esteem. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15. 1472332. ISSN 1664-0640
Abstract
Introduction: Much research on the treatment of paranoia has involved cognitive-behavioural interventions that address explicit social cognition processes. However, much of human cognition is preverbal or implicit, raising the possibility that such social judgements are implicated in paranoia. One type of implicit social cognition that has been investigated concerning paranoia is implicit self-esteem with some evidence that it may be possible to change implicit self-esteem using techniques based on conditioning theory. Therefore, the primary purpose of this research is to further evaluate the potential of this approach. At the same time, as a secondary purpose, we introduce a novel way of measuring social cognition that, we argue, has utility for investigating the psychological processes involved in paranoia.
Method: We conducted two proof-of-concept studies of a novel brief intervention based on evaluative conditioning, targeting implicit cognition. The first study was conducted with a large non-clinical sample, while the second study included a small series of psychotic patients. As part of our proof-of-concept evaluation of the potential of evaluative conditioning, we attempted to probe for neurophysiological changes following the intervention using magnetoencephalography in an exploratory way in the clinical sample.
Results: Our results revealed that both non-clinical and clinical participants in the experimental group showed a significant change in how they evaluated themselves in the social cognition task, which could be related to the perception of social information in a less threatening way. In addition, clinical participants in the experimental group showed changes in brain activity during the social cognition task, particularly in regions involved in emotional reactivity and mentalization processes.
Discussion: Our results are encouraging, suggesting that implicit cognition is manipulable, that such manipulation affects underlying neurophysiological mechanisms, and that there may be an impact on paranoid symptoms. However, much more work is required to determine whether this approach can produce meaningful clinical change and be delivered in routine clinical settings. Finally, it is important to note that we are not claiming the clinical effectiveness of our intervention, which is in a very early stage of development. Our goal here is to demonstrate clinical possibilities that warrant further investigation
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Trucharte, Carmen, Pacios, Bruña, Espinosa, Peinado, Pascual, Martinez, Maestu and Bentall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | paranoia; implicit social cognition; evaluative conditioning; magnetoencephalography; implicit self-esteem |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Nov 2024 16:22 |
Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2024 16:22 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1472332 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media SA |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1472332 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:219476 |