OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to examine the association of implicit self-esteem, explicit self-esteem and their interaction with paranoia and attributional bias. The relationship of the size and the direction of the discrepancy between implicit and explicit self-esteem with paranoia and attributional bias was examined. METHODS: A total of 128 female college students participated. We administered the Implicit Association Test to assess implicit self-esteem, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to measure explicit self-esteem. Paranoia Scale was used, and the attributional bias was assessed using the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire. RESULTS: Results showed that explicit but not implicit self-esteem was negatively associated with paranoia, blame bias and hostility perception bias in ambiguous situations. The interaction of implicit and explicit self-esteem was associated with hostility perception in ambiguous situations. As for the discrepancy, the size of the discrepancy between implicit and explicit self-esteem was positively associated with hostility perception in ambiguous situations. Moreover, the direction of the discrepancy was specifically relevant: damaged self-esteem (high implicit and low explicit self-esteem) was associated with increased levels of paranoia, blame bias and hostility perception in ambiguous situations. CONCLUSION: These findings provide new insights into the role of the implicit and explicit self-esteem in attributional bias and paranoia and point to damaged self-esteem as a possible vulnerability marker for illogical attribution of blaming others and perceiving hostility in social situations.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Female ; Hostility ; Humans ; Intention ; Paranoid Disorders

OBJECTIVES: Some emotional components, such as self-esteem, depression and anxiety, have been reported to be associated with paranoia in non-clinical population and schizophrenia patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between self-esteem and paranoia in healthy controls, in ultra-high risk for psychosis and schizophrenia patients. METHODS: 34 subjects with recent onset schizophrenia, 36 subjects with ultra-high risk for psychosis, and 44 healthy volunteers participated in this study. A detailed assessment was made of the paranoia, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. RESULTS: In all three groups, there were a negative correlation between paranoia and self-esteem, and positive correlations between paranoia and depression and anxiety. In healthy control, lower self-esteem showed a trend to predict higher paranoia, and in ultra-high risk for psychosis, this trend tern on statistically significant level, and in recent onset schizophrenia group, this correlation was disappeared. CONCLUSION: The individual who have lower self-esteem showed higher paranoia tendency under delusional level, but after formation of persecutory delusion, the tendency was disappeared. This result supports the hypothesis that persecutory delusions are a defense against negative affective process.
Animals ; Anxiety ; Charadriiformes ; Delusions ; Depression ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Paranoid Disorders* ; Psychotic Disorders* ; Schizophrenia*

We experienced clinical improvement by clozapine(mean maintenance dosage: 100mg/day) and antiparkinsonian medication in 68-year-old man, diagnosed both secondary parkinsonism and delusional disorder. This result supports previous reports that clozapine may effectively treat parkinsonism with psychosis.
Aged ; Clozapine* ; Delusions* ; Humans ; Parkinson Disease, Secondary ; Parkinsonian Disorders* ; Psychotic Disorders ; Schizophrenia, Paranoid*

Conventional neuroleptic treatment of organic delusional disorder can induce many serious side effects including extrapyramidal symptoms, sedation and tardive dyskinesia, especially in elderly patients. Risperidone is an atypical neuroleptics that is lack of severe extrapyramidal symptoms. This 68-year-old male case demonstrated that elderly patients with organic delusional disorder could be treated with risperidone without serious side effects.
Aged* ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Delusions* ; Humans ; Male ; Movement Disorders ; Risperidone* ; Schizophrenia, Paranoid*

OBJECTIVES: We studied the psychometric properties of a Korean version of the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (K-AIHQ), which measures hostile social-cognitive biases for use in the research on paranoia. METHODS: The translation and back-translation of the AIHQ with concern for the cultural differences were done according to the standard procedure. A sample of 83 healthy volunteers completed the K-AIHQ. RESULTS: The scores of the K-AIHQ were comparable to the results of the original studies. The Paranoia Scale was correlated with the K-AIHQ, but Magical Ideation and Perceptual Aberration scales were not correlated with the K-AIHQ. The interrater reliabilities of the items in each situation were in the acceptable range. CONCLUSION: The KAIHQ seems to be a reliable and valid test to measure the hostile social cognitive biases of patients with paranoia.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Hostility ; Humans ; Intention ; Magic ; Paranoid Disorders ; Psychometrics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weights and Measures

Alfa-interferon(IFN) has become the major therapeutic modality for chronic viral hepatitis. The spectrum of side effects is one of the main drawbacks of this treatment. Alfa-INF is known to lead to neuropsychiatric sym ptoms. Neuropsychiatric toxicity, including cognitive dys function, irritability, personality changes and emotional instability cause interpersonal problems, discontinuation of work and domestic discord. Other more serious IFN- induced signs of neurotoxicity include delirium, depres sion and seizures. The psychiatric side effects fell into three categories: an organic personality syndrome charac terized by irritability, and short temper; an organic affective syndrome marked by extreme emotional lability, depression and tearfulness; and a delirium marked by clouding of consciousness, agitation, paranoia, and suicial potential. These complications are thought to be revers ible with dose reduction or cessation of therapy. There fore it is important that physicians, patients and their families are informed about the potential risk of the emotional and psychiatric disturbances that can occur during alfa-INF therapy. We report three patients who had neuropsychiatric complications during long-term interferon alfa therapy.
Consciousness ; Delirium ; Depression ; Dihydroergotamine ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha* ; Interferons* ; Paranoid Disorders ; Seizures

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social exclusion and paranoid ideation, and to explore moderating and mediating effects of depression and self-esteem in that relationship. METHODS: Ninety seven neurosis patients receiving treatment in a psychiatric outpatient setting were selected. Social Exclusion Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, paranoia scale of Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used for evaluation. RESULTS: Social exclusion showed highly positive correlation with paranoid ideation, and had significant influence. Among three types of social exclusion, contempt, bullying, and isolation, only isolation showed significant influence on paranoid ideation. Depression showed a partial mediating effect on that relationship indicating that social exclusion affects paranoid ideation not only directly, but also indirectly. On the other hand, self-esteem showed no moderating or mediating effects on that relationship. CONCLUSION: Depression mediates the influence of social exclusion on paranoid ideation. This finding provides an opportunity to decrease paranoid ideation of neurosis patients by not only prescription of antipsychotic agents but also therapeutic approach to social exclusion and depression. An experimental study to verify these findings seems to be needed.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Bullying ; Depression* ; Hand ; Humans ; Negotiating* ; Outpatients ; Paranoid Disorders ; Prescriptions ; Social Isolation

OBJECTIVES: Patients with schizophrenia often present idea of reference in social situations, but there has been a limitation in quantitatively measuring their reactions to the social stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate behavioral characteristics of patients with schizophrenia in social situations in which idea of reference can be provoked. METHODS: Forty subjects with schizophrenia (21 males) and 26 healthy volunteers (17 males) performed the idea-of-reference-provoking task, which was composed of movie clips with scenes of two women sitting on a bench of 1 or 5 m away. The conditions consisted of "referential conversation", "non-referential conversation" or "no conversation". The reactions of the participants were rated by the questionnaires for self-referential perception, malevolent interpretation and anxiety reaction. RESULTS: There were significant group differences in the reactions on self-referential perception, malevolent interpretation and anxiety reaction. After the treatment, patients with schizophrenia showed improved scores of the reactions. In particular, score changes of malevolent interpretation and anxiety reaction in patients with schizophrenia were correlated with change of paranoia scale (rs=0.65, p<0.05 and rs =0.73, p<0.05, respectively). CONCLUSION: Patients with schizophrenia revealed self-referential bias and paranoid responses to social situations, which were improved after psychiatric treatment. Self-referential perceptions and paranoid responses may be state dependent rather than trait of schizophrenia.
Anxiety ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Female ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Paranoid Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Schizophrenia* ; Social Perception*

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to find out the differences in psychopathology, temperament, and character factors between young adults with and without childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. METHODS: The subjects consisted of 314 university students (male=72, female=242) in Gongju. They were divided into childhood ADHD group (N=54) and normal group (N=260) to the Wender-Utah Rating Scale. Participants were assessed using Korean Adult ADHD Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Kimberly Young's Internet Addiction Test, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Paranoia Scale, Korean-Schizotypal Ambivalence Scale, Lubben Social Network Scale, and Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square, spearman correlation, and stepwise multiple regression were applied to analyze the data. RESULTS: Participants with childhood ADHD symptoms had high level of adult ADHD symptoms (p<.001), impulsiveness (p=.001), depression (p<.001), anxiety (p<.001), internet addiction (p<.001), paranoia tendency (p<.001) and low level of self-esteem (p<.001) compared to normal group. Self-directedness (p<.001) was lower, Harm avoidance (p=.001) and Self-transcendence (p=.029) were higher in the childhood ADHD group. In correlation and stepwise multiple regression, childhood ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with cooperativeness (r=-0.515 and beta=-0.547, p<.001 respectively). CONCLUSION: This result showed that young adults with childhood ADHD symptoms had various forms of psychopathology and childhood ADHD symptoms were influenced by character such as cooperativeness. Therefore, more thorough evaluation regarding childhood ADHD symptoms is needed.
Adult* ; Anxiety ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Depression ; Humans ; Internet ; Paranoid Disorders ; Psychopathology* ; Temperament* ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Psychogenic non epileptic seizures (PNES) are characterized by repeated seizures that are typically caused by stress and psychologic problems such as anxiety and depression. This contrasts with epileptic seizures (ES), which are transient and caused by irregular excitement of nerve cells. PNES can be found in patients with ES, but due to their differing etiologies, it is important to determine the psychologic characteristics that differentiate PNES from ES. METHODS: This study identified psychopathologic and personality traits in 137 patients with PNES (n=7, 49.3% female) or ES (n=0, 35.7% female) using MMPI. The diagnosis was based on a medical history of seizures and the clinical examination in patients who visited the epilepsy clinic. Statistical analyses for comparing MMPI differences between the two groups were conducted using the t-test, chi-square test, and analysis of covariance. RESULTS: We analyzed the frequency of individuals who exhibited a T score of ≥5 on the MMPI, and the results indicated that there were significantly more patients in the PNES group than in the ES group who had elevated scores on the hypochondriasis (Hs) scale and hysteria (Hy) scale. The mean scores of Hs, Hy, paranoia scale and schizophrenia scale were significantly higher in the PNES group than in the ES group. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that patients with PNES have greater psychologic problems than ES patients. Differences in MMPI profile patterns between patients with PNES and ES may be helpful in tailoring appropriate therapeutic interventions for the two groups.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Epilepsy* ; Humans ; Hypochondriasis ; Hysteria ; MMPI* ; Neurons ; Paranoid Disorders ; Schizophrenia ; Seizures*