Attachment Imagery for Paranoia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of secure attachment imagery on clinical paranoia; An examination of cognitive and affective outcomes and mediators.
IRAS ID
277821
Contact name
Monica Sood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
b9743, Open Science Framework (OSF) Pre-registration
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Paranoia describes interpersonal threat beliefs that are common in both clinical and general populations. This study aims to examine whether visualising (i.e., creating a mental image of) a person we feel safe and secure with (secure attachment imagery) reduces paranoia and anxiety, and increases help-seeking and recovery, compared to visualizing a time when eating a meal (neutral imagery).
We also aim to examine how the secure attachment imagery task influences paranoia, anxiety, help-seeking, and recovery - that is, what are the mechanisms by which attachment imagery operates? Based on previous research and theory, we predict that cognitive fusion (the extent to which we are entangled in our negative thoughts) and beliefs about self and others will explain the impact of attachment imagery on each of paranoia, anxiety, help-seeking, and recovery.
Furthermore, we aim to investigate whether the secure attachment prime, relative to the neutral prime, facilitates recovery after a stressful situation (this situation will be a walk down a busy street).
The study will use a longitudinal design (i.e., it will run over a number of days), with attachment imagery (secure vs. neutral) as the independent variable (i.e., the predictor); paranoia, anxiety, help-seeking, and recovery as dependent variables (i.e., the outcomes); and cognitive fusion and negative beliefs about self and others as hypothesized mediators (i.e., mechanisms by which the predictor impacts the outcomes). We will administer multiple brief self-report questionnaires and imagery tasks across 6 days. On the 6th day, participants will go out for a walk in a busy street (mild stressor).
We will recruit participants who meet criteria for psychosis and experience paranoia from clinical NHS settings.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0331
Date of REC Opinion
29 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion