Implicit and explicit self-schema in active deluded, remitted deluded, and depressed patients

• Published in: Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry 2008-12, Vol.39 (4), p.587-599
• Main Authors: Vázquez, Carmelo, Diez-Alegría, Cristina, Hernández-Lloreda, María J, Moreno, Marta Nieto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; Cognition; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Control Groups; Delusion; Delusions - diagnosis; Delusions - psychology; Depression; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Mental Recall; Models, Psychological; Mood disorders; Negative cognition; Other psychotic disorders; Paranoid Disorders - diagnosis; Paranoid Disorders - psychology; Persecutory ideation; Personality Inventory; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychosis; Self Concept; Self-esteem; Selfconcept; Surveys and Questionnaires; Task Performance and Analysis; Word Association Tests
• ISSN: 0005-7916; 1873-7943
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.01.006

Abstract The main objective of this study was to analyze the hypothesis that patients with persecutory delusions would show a depressive-type self-concept when assessed with implicit measures of self-schema (i.e., a free recall test of self-relevant adjectives) but would show a normal self-concept when assessed with explicit measures (i.e., a self-concept questionnaire and a task requiring endorsement of self-relevant adjectives). The sample consisted of 136 participants (40 acute deluded participants, 25 remitted deluded participants, 35 depressed patients and 36 normal controls). Our results revealed that both groups of deluded participants showed no significant discrepancy between explicit and implicit measures of self-concept. These findings do not support the hypothesis of an implicit negative cognitive schema in persecutory deluded participants.